Opposition activists report airstrikes in northern Syria

In this picture taken Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, destroyed buildings are seen in the old city of Homs, Syria. Some 1,200 rebels and civilians, many of them wounded and starving from a yearlong siege, withdrew from the last remaining strongholds in the ancient heart of Homs in May 2014, surrendering to President Bashar Assad a bloodstained city once dubbed the “capital of the revolution.” (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) In this picture taken Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, destroyed buildings are seen in the old city of Homs, Syria. Some 1,200 rebels and civilians, many of them wounded and starving from a yearlong siege, withdrew from the last remaining strongholds in the ancient heart of Homs in May 2014, surrendering to President Bashar Assad a bloodstained city once dubbed the “capital of the revolution.” (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

By Associated Press February 28, 2016 3 min read

BEIRUT (AP) – Warplanes carried out Sunday air raids on two villages in northern Syria as Russia said a northern town held by a predominantly Kurdish militia came under fire from the Turkish side of the border.

Sunday’s air raids came on the second day of a cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S., the most ambitious effort yet to curb the violence of the country’s five-year civil war. The truce has been holding since it went into effect at midnight Friday despite accusations by both sides of violations.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes hit the villages of Daret Azzeh and Qobtan al-Jabal. The group did not say whether the warplanes were Russian or Syrian.

The Local Coordination Committees said the warplanes were Russian.

It was not immediately clear if the warplanes struck areas controlled by al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. Both the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are excluded from the truce.