A total of 23 people were killed and 35 others were injured when three Russian warplanes launched 17 airstrikes on opposition-controlled northwestern Idlib city late Monday, a Syrian civil defense official said.

Abdurrazak Jubeiro, a civil defense official in Idlib, told Anadolu Agency that the airstrikes hit several targets in the city, including the al-Wataniand Ibn Sina hospital as well as a mosque.

The casualties included a number of women and children while civil defense rescue teams rushed to dig up collapsed homes to find the dead and the injured, Jubeiro said.

He added that two hospitals in total were hit in the strikes, including the Ibn Sina hospital, which was severely damaged and would not be able to provide crucial medical services anymore.

Russia launched its military intervention in Syria in September 2015 supposedly after a formal request by the Bashar al-Assad regime for military help.

In March, Russia decided to reduce its forces in the war-torn country.

According to a tally compiled by Anadolu Agency, more than 361,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict erupted in 2011.

*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Mahmoud Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara.

PHOTO CAPTION

A child is seen in the wreckage of National Hospital (Ibn Sina) after the Russian airstrikes targeted Idlib, Syria on May 31, 2016.

AA