Russian strikes take toll in Syria
Life goes on in the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus yesterday. March was the worst month for civilian deaths from Russian air strikes in Syria since Moscow entered the conflict in 2015.
The number of civilians killed in Russian air strikes in Syria reached record levels last month – as many as 1,229, monitoring group Airwars says.
Airwars, which is based in London, tracks reports of civilians deaths in Iraq and Syria from air raids, and put the minimum number of civilian deaths at 712.
It was the deadliest month for civilian deaths blamed on Russia since it entered the Syrian conflict in September 2015, the monitor said in its monthly report.
Airwars tracked 250 strikes that resulted in civilian casualties last month around Eastern Ghouta, the besieged enclave on the outskirts of Damascus where Russia launched a bombing campaign in late February to wrestle the remaining rebels there into submission.
The Syrian government launched its campaign to retake Eastern Ghouta earlier in February. The group of suburbs once had about 400,000 civilians, but they have suffered under a government siege since 2013.
The area’s capture by the Syrian army this month was regarded as a major victory for the government of President Bashar Al Assad.
The UN reported on March 27 that 1,700 people had been killed in the battle for Eastern Ghouta, with thousands more injured in the previous month. This was despite the UN Security Council resolution on February 24 that called for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria. Distinguishing between Russian and Syrian government air strikes while under heavy bombardment is not always possible, but Airwars believes most of the casualties were caused by Moscow’s forces.
“The regime was several weeks into the Ghouta campaign before the Russians engaged and we didn’t receive reports from on the ground of civilian deaths caused by Russian aircraft until then,” Airwars director Chris Woods told The National.
Airwars assesses its numbers through local and social-media reports, YouTube videos and reports from Syrian state media and Russian authorities.
“What is certain is that Russia and the Assad government were responsible for a very high number of civilian deaths from air strikes primarily from the Eastern Ghouta area based on hundreds and hundreds of reports from the ground,” Mr Woods said.
The Syrian army has now turned its attention to Yarmouk, another militant-held enclave on the outskirts of Damascus. Residents have described heavy bombardment causing heavy civilian casualties.