Russia Killed A whole lot of Civilians in Syria, Amnesty States

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.

It said there was evidence suggesting Russia uses internationally-banned cluster bombs in its strikes while Russian authorities may have covered up civilian damage to a mosque and a hospital.

Amer, a resident of Idlib who told The Associated Press that he witnessed the attack said he had never seen such carnage. Russian Federation has said it is targeting Islamic State, but it has faced widespread criticism that its strikes have focused largely on opposition group sites. In another attack on a busy market in the center of Ariha of the Idlib governorate, 49 civilians were killed.

“Civilians continue to live in fear and bear the brunt of Russian air strikes”, said Grant Bayldon, Executive Director of Amnesty International in New Zealand.

“Such attacks may amount to war crimes”, Luther added.

It concluded that Russian Federation has killed 16 civilians in Syria for every fighter successfully targeted, and said elements of Russia’s campaign could amount to war crimes.

Amnesty says it has “researched remotely” 25 attacks between 30 September and 29 October.

The airstrikes have killed at least 200 civilians and around a dozen fighters, the report states, quoting witnesses and activists.

A Russian Su-24 bomber launched an attack on Daesh military equipment in the Syrian province of Homs, destroying six off-road vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns and three militants’ trucks.

“We examined this report”, Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, said in a briefing.

The latest bombs come with Vladimir Putin’s campaign in Syria under fire from Amnsesty International, which has claimed Moscow is guilty of violating humanitarian law.

Cluster munitions are by nature indiscriminate and often leave unexploded bomblets on the ground.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said the strike was carried out by Russian Federation.

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

The majority of the Russian attacks were in and around the Syrian cities of Idlib, Homs and Aleppo.