‘Russia directly targets Syrian civilians’

> Moscow’s actions have gone ‘from callous to catastrophic’: Amnesty

DAMASCUS: Russian bombers have “directly attacked” and killed at least 200 civilians in Syria and its campaign of air strikes could amount to war crimes, campaigners say.

In a major new report on Russia’s intervention in Syria, Amnesty International accused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government of knowingly targeting residential areas in “indiscriminate attacks”, before covering up the evidence and effectively lying to the international community.

The campaign group’s researchers analysed 25 suspected Russian air raids since the start of Moscow’s campaign in Syria, with targets including homes, medical facilities and a mosque.

The report highlighted the fact that Russia has flatly denied any civilian casualties or even damage to civilian property during its hundreds of air strikes on Syrian “terrorists”.

Amnesty said on the contrary that across the suspected Russian bombings it had analysed, 16 civilians had been killed for every rebel fighter successfully targeted.

“In some attacks, the Russian armed forces appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military objective and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians,” the report said.

“In others, they seem to have attacked military objectives and civilian objects without distinction, or caused disproportionate harm to civilians when striking military targets. Such attacks may constitute war crimes.”

Amnesty told The Independent its research suggested Russia’s role in Syria had gone from “callous to catastrophic”.

Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s Syria campaign manager, said: “For years Moscow has shielded the Assad government and blocked efforts to try to reduce the suffering of the Syrian people, now Russia’s air forces are themselves killing Syrian civilians by the hundred.

“We’ve seen with earlier conflicts in Chechnya and Afghanistan, that Russian forces have a track record of unleashing terrible waves of indiscriminate attacks in residential areas. This is what’s happening in Syria right now.”

Among the worst attacks detailed in the report was a bombing raid on a busy market in Ariha, Idlib province, which killed 49 people.

Eye witness accounts and the Russian military’s own briefings provide strong evidence to suggest Russia was responsible.

Local activist Mohammed Qurabi alGhazal told Amnesty he was nearby when the market was hit, and that while armed group Jaysh al-Fateh controls areas around Ariha it has no presence inside the town.

Amnesty called on Russia to “end indiscriminate and proportionate attacks” and comply with international law.

It said it had put its findings to the Russian authorities, but received no “substantive response”. – The Independent