The three missiles fired on a public market in the northern Syrian town
of Ariha took the morning shoppers by surprise. In a few moments, the
main street, packed with people buying and selling fruit and vegetables,
turned into a scene of carnage with burning cars and the wounded
screaming in terror.
At least 34 civilians were killed in the Nov. 29 attack — one in a
growing number of suspected
Russian attacks that Syrian opposition and
rights activists say have killed civilians and caused massive
destruction to residential areas across the country since Moscow
formally joined the conflict nearly three months ago.
Russian officials have repeatedly rejected the accusations while
residents and most opposition activists inside Syria acknowledge they
have no way of categorically distinguishing whether planes that carry
out a specific attack are operated by Russians or Syrians.
But human rights group say the pattern of attacks suggests Russia is
flouting international humanitarian law and that it may even amount to
war crimes.
In a new report released Wednesday, Amnesty International says it has
also documented evidence suggesting Russia used cluster munitions and
unguided bombs in populated residential areas. The London-based watchdog
denounced Moscow's "shameful failure" to acknowledge civilian killings.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov rejected
Amnesty's claims as "clichés and fakes," accusing the group of relying
on activists' claims that could not be checked or proven.
He particularly criticized the group's claim that the Russian strikes
targeted areas where there were no militants, saying Amnesty had no way
of knowing that.
"Jihadis in Syria operate in highly mobile units, using Toyota pickup
trucks with high-caliber weapons mounted on them," he said. "Each of
those vehicles is considered a tactical unit and represents a legitimate
military target."
Amnesty's report focuses on six attacks in Homs, Idlib and Aleppo
provinces between September and November which it says killed at least
200 civilians.
"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," said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program.
"Such attacks may amount to war crimes," Luther added.
Amnesty's report also said the group has gathered evidence, including
photos and video footage, suggesting the Russians have used unguided
bombs in densely populated civilian areas, as well as internationally
banned deadly cluster munitions.
The charge echoed similar accusations by Human Rights Watch last Sunday.
The New York-based group said that attacks in Syria using air-dropped
and ground-launched cluster munitions have increased significantly since
Russia began its military operations in Syria.
Cluster munitions, which can be delivered from the ground by artillery
and rockets or dropped from aircraft, are by nature indiscriminate and
often leave unexploded bomblets on the ground. These can maim and kill
civilians long after the hostilities or a conflict ends. Russia and
Syria among several nations — including the United States — that are not
signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the
bombs.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted with concern the Amnesty report, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Wednesday. But Haq added that the United Nations "cannot independently confirm the cases presented" in the report.
Konashenkov, the Russian ministry spokesman, flatly rejected the claim that Russian aircraft used cluster bombs in Syria.
The Moscow spokesman singled out Amnesty, criticizing it for taking a
"biased" approach toward Russia and adding that the U.S.-led coalition,
Syria and Turkey also have conducted airstrikes in Syria where the level
of coordination has been poor — suggesting those strikes have also
caused civilian casualties.
"Why does Amnesty International put the emphasis on the Russian action? Such accusations are groundless," Konashenkov said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents casualties in
the Syrian civil war through activists on the ground, says Russian
strikes in Syria have killed at least 710 civilians since Sept. 30,
compared with nearly 600 Islamic State militants and 824 fighters of
other opposition groups.
Russia's entry into the conflict has further muddled the military
landscape in the Syrian War, where front lines are always shifting and
the list of participants keeps growing.
Russia says its airstrikes are aimed at the Islamic State group and
other "terrorists" — a term that President Bashar Assad's government
uses for all armed and opposition groups battling his forces — but
Western officials and Syrian rebels say most of the strikes have focused
on central and northern Syria, where IS does not have a strong
presence.
Last month's attack on the market in Ariha, documented by Amnesty, is an example.
The Amnesty report cited town residents as saying there were no
militants in the area. Rebels with the Army of Conquest — an umbrella
group that includes hard-line factions and militants from the Nusra
Front, al-Qaida's branch in Syria — had conquered Ariha from Syrian
government forces in the spring.
However, the coalition's fighters were stationed outside the town,
according to the residents, who claimed that two warplanes had
circulated overhead before they unleashed the three missiles.
The residents say they distinguish Russian planes because they fly at
higher altitudes from Syrian planes or helicopters, which tend to drop
indiscriminate barrel bombs at lower altitudes. Some also say that
Russian-operated planes tend to fly in twos.
The missiles turned the Ariha market, in the town center, into chaos.
Amateur videos of the aftermath showed bodies and pools of blood
scattered amid overturned crates of fruit and vegetables. Bystanders and
first responders carried the wounded to a clinic, which was quickly
overwhelmed, forcing medics to treat the victims on the floor.
Amer, a resident of Idlib who told The Associated Press that he witnessed the attack said he had never seen such carnage.
"It seems for the Russians and Syrians everything is allowed." He did not give his full name, fearing for his own safety.
Asked about allegations that Russia is using cluster bombs, Russian
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted this week
that the Russian military in Syria operates in line with international
law and its "bans on using one or another type of weapons."
Accusations of deadly Russian airstrikes have become common in Syria.
On Sunday, airstrikes believed to be Russian on the northwestern city of
Idlib killed at least 32 people, among them many civilians, according
to opposition activists. On December 18, between 14 and 17 people,
including women and children, died in a suspected Russian raid on the
rebel-held town of Jisr al-Shughour, in Idlib province, not far from
Ariha. A coalition of Syrian opposition groups said the planes bombed
residential buildings.
On October 15, at least 46 civilians died in a suspected Russian raid on
al-Gantu, in the central Homs province, when a destructive "vacuum
bomb" collapsed a building and crushed the shelter in the basement.
A local first responder told Amnesty that the nearest rebel military
base was 300 meters (yards) away from the site where the bomb hit.
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