Surprise: Russia’s Airstrikes Also Hit Hospitals & Other Civilian Targets Killing Civilians And Children

On September 30, Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War to help the Syrian government retake territory from various militant groups including al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State and the Army of Conquest. On October 22 alone, the Russian Air Force attacked 72 Islamic State locations in 53 sorties in the Syrian provinces of Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor. Moscow claims the airstrikes are aimed at weakening and destroying ISIS. But sources on the ground and video footages of attacks paint a different picture.

TARGET: AREAS CONTROLLED BY US-BACKED REBELS

According to a report by Russia 24, a state-owned news channel, Talbiseh was one of several towns in Homs struck by Russian forces on September 30. There are no Islamic State fighters in the area near Talbiseh. It is under the control of US-backed Free Syrian Army.

Russian jets on October 1 hit areas in the suburbs of Hama and Idlib, all areas under the control of loose coalitions of rebel groups, including the Free Syrian Army. Both Hama and Idlib have had no ISIS presence since January 2014.

While Moscow maintained that the attacks were aimed at the ISIS and other “terrorist organizations”, a joint statement from Britain, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States, called on Russia to cease its aerial campaign which was hitting the Western-backed Syrian rebels and civilians.

“We express our deep concern with regard to the Russian military build-up in Syria and especially the attacks by the Russian Air Force. These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalization. We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians,” read the statement.

Putin rejected allegations that civilians had been killed in Russian raids, dubbing the reports “information warfare”. “If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right? This is basically our position, as well. We see eye-to-eye with the coalition on this one,” Russia’s foreign minister said defending Russia’s military operations in Syria.

According to one analyst, 80% of Russian airstrikes have hit the armed groups fighting against forces loyal to the Syrian regime.

Almost 80 percent of Russia’s strikes in Syria don’t target Islamic State, analysis shows: https://t.co/pZdx1AppyW pic.twitter.com/cGQ70eXu8u

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 21, 2015

In other words, Russia appears to be targeting American allies in Syria instead of combating ISIS. The War In Syria has nothing to do with eliminating the ISIS.

WEAPONRY: CLUSTER BOMBS

“Russia is using cluster bombs that can explode even a quarter of an hour after they fall,” a group of volunteer rescue workers, called the Syrian Civil Defense Forces, cautioned in a statement published on the main Syrian opposition group’s Facebook page.

Cluster munitions can house hundreds of smaller sub-munitions including grenades and mines. These can scatter over a wide area, and many do not detonate on deployment, thus pose a threat for years. At least nine types of cluster munitions have been reportedly used in Syria by Russia.

“The Kafr Halab attack coincides with a surge of video and photographic reports of air-dropped and ground-launched cluster munition attacks in the governorates of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib since Russia started its air campaign in Syria on 30 September,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

An international treaty, Convention on Cluster Munitions, prohibits the production, transfer and use of the deadly weapon. Neither Russia nor Syria is among the signatories of the treaty, which entered into force in 2010.

CASUALTY: CIVILIANS & HOSPITALS

Russia’s air strike campaign in Syria has killed 370 people, 127 of them civilians including 36 children, since it started three weeks ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring the war, said on October 20. Activists on the ground in Syria also claim that the majority of Russian bombs have hit civilian targets, a charge that Moscow has denied.

Russia now admits it aims mainly to back Assad. But will it stop his attacks on civilians? https://t.co/TBkag0Nomdpic.twitter.com/A7GCS13Rar

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 21, 2015

Relentless and powerful airstrikes by Russian jets in Syria have made it nearly impossible for aid groups to do their jobs. “Russia’s airstrikes have totally changed our work here and increased the burden imposed on us very much. Russian jets fire an average of at least six rockets during an airstrike, creating an intensity of attack that far surpasses those wrought by Syrian government forces fighting under Assad’s command,” Raed Saleh, who leads Syria Civil Defence, told Vocativ.

Russia strikes hinder Syria aid delivery: Red Cross https://t.co/ao4MSRhQZQ pic.twitter.com/CRIJhLYLis

— NDTV (@ndtv) October 22, 2015

“Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been relentlessly attacking Syria’s health care system for the past four years and the Russian government is now following in their footsteps. These attacks are inexcusable. Claiming that the fight is against terrorists does not give any government the right to tear up the laws of war, which specifically protect health workers and facilities. With these actions, Russia is damaging hospitals, putting patients and medical staff at risk, and depriving civilians of life-saving access to health care,” said Widney Brown, Physicians for Human Rights’ director of programs, confirming that Russian air strikes damaged three medical facilities in Syria within two days of military intervention.

Doctors and international observers claim that at least four hospitals have been bombed by fighter jets in north-western Syria since Russia’s intervention in the war began on September 30.

Local residents told Human Rights Watch that a school and a post office were struck on September 30 itself, killing 17 civilians, injuring 72 and causing severe damage. They claimed that there were no military targets – such as fighters, bases, or weapons stocks – near the targeted area and that the closest front line was at least two kilometers away.

“There were a lot of corpses. There were many victims, people dead. One of our colleagues from the civil defense died while rescuing the victims. I personally carried nine bodies,” said the head of Homs Civil Defense, Abdel Men’em Sateef.

The latest attack, on October 20, killed at least 13 people at Sarmin hospital in Idlib province, including medical staff and rescues workers of the “White Helmets”, who volunteer to recover and treat wounded civilians, soldiers, and rebels from the Syrian battlefields.

Is Russia deliberately not taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Syria?

After enduring so much, the last thing Syrians need is indiscriminate attacks from Russia…

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