Russian Federation has killed 200 Syrian civilians in two months: Amnesty

Some Russian strikes “seem to have attacked military objectives and civilian objects without distinction, or caused disproportionate harm to civilians when striking military targets”, Amnesty said in the report. Amnesty researched the attacks “remotely”, going as far as to accuse Russian Federation of war crimes by causing “massive destruction” of residential areas through the alleged use of internationally prohibited cluster munitions.

Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must not be used in any circumstances. These can maim and kill civilians long after the hostilities or a conflict ends.

But the Amnesty report, whose charges echoed those of some Syrian and Western observers, said Russian air strikes had killed “at least 200 civilians and around a dozen fighters” up to November 29.

Russia, which began its bombing campaign September 30 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Islamic State and other militant groups, has repeatedly rejected allegations that innocent civilians have been killed or injured.

“Some Russian air strikes appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians”, Philip Luther, Amnesty’s director of its MIddle East and North Africa program, said in the report.

“Such attacks may amount to war crimes”, he claimed.

As for cluster munitions, “Russia does not use them… we have no such weapons on our base in Syria”.

But many more civilians, in all likelihood, were killed by Russian bombs, as the report only focused on six attacks, and Russian bombers continue to attack parts of Syria with multiple runs on a daily basis.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry slammed the Amnesty report as inaccurate, saying it lacks any basis. Amnesty also said it is investigating strikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria.

The Amnesty report cited town residents as saying there were no militants in the area. “Russian aviation does not use them”, he said.

‘Russian aircraft continued conducting strikes against illegal oilfields controlled by terrorists in the Syrian Arab Republic. He did not give his full name, fearing for his own safety.

He added that Russian Su-34 jets also destroyed two oil storage facilities and multiple fuel pumps in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria.

Amnesty said it researched more than 25 Russian airstrikes in the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs and Latakia between September 30 and November 29.

In one of the bloodiest maneuvers documented by the organization, they pointed out three missiles fired at a crowded market in the center of Idleb, which resulted in the death of 49 civilians.

A local first responder told Amnesty that the nearest rebel military base was 300 metres (yards) away from the site where the bomb hit.