Russian air strikes kill about 200 Syrian civilians – Amnesty International

Since late September, the strikes of Russian air forces in Syria have killed at least 200 civilians and caused large-scale and unjustified destructions.

This is said in the report of the Amnesty International, based on the information from 16 eyewitnesses and doctors, as well as the human rights groups.

The human rights activists analyzed 25 Russian air strikes in five different areas in Homs, Hama, Idlib, Aleppo and Latakia during September 30 – November 29. Six air strikes were launched in the territories where there were no nearby military targets resulting in dozens of civilian casualties.

The shells slammed into the houses, a hospital, a market and a mosque. November 29, 49 civilians were killed and many more were injured after three shells had slammed into the market in the town of Ariha in Idlib province.

The human rights organization believes that the revealed data point to serious violations of the international humanitarian law by Russia.

Amnesty International also accuses Russia of using unguided bombs in densely populated areas, and using cluster munitions, which lead to the indiscriminate destruction.

As a reminder, the Russian Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications banned the journalists in the temporarily occupied Crimea from publishing information about the presence of Russian troops in Syria except for the articles of the ITAR-TASS state news agency.