KINSIBBA, Syria (AP) – A series of artillery shells exploded near the main street of a Syrian village near the border with Turkey on Tuesday, sending a group of visiting international reporters running for cover and underscoring the limits of Syria’s partial cease-fire.
The journalists were visiting the government-controlled village of Kinsibba, which is about five kilometers south of the Turkish border, on a trip organized by Russia’s defense and foreign ministries.
Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov, who was on the trip, said the projectiles came from positions held by the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, which is excluded from the Russian and U.S.-brokered cease-fire, along with Islamic State group.
The journalists were traveling in armored trucks provided by the Russian military, and were escorted by Russian special forces.
Reporters were walking across the village, which was seized in a recent government offensive, and talking to locals when the first shell struck a hillside a few hundred meters away. Russian officers yelled at journalists to lie down, and they ducked as more shells fell and landed closer to the group. A Russian armored personnel carrier rushed forward to screen the reporters from direct hits.