All news

Amnesty International: Hundreds of people killed in Syria airstrikes

In its annual report Amnesty International stated numerous violations of international humanitarian law in Syria

LONDON, February 24. /TASS/. Parties to the internal armed conflict in Syria continued committing "war crimes, other violations of international humanitarian law and gross human rights abuses with impunity", Amnesty International said in an annual report published on Wednesday.

"The independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic established by the UN Human Rights Council continued to monitor and report on the violations of international law committed by the parties to the conflict, although it remained barred by the government from entering Syria," the document said.

"The US-led international coalition of states continued to carry out airstrikes against IS and certain other armed groups in northern and eastern Syria," Amnestry said. "The attacks, which began in September 2014, reportedly killed scores of civilians."

It quoted the data from the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an organization based in Britain, that 243 people had been killed in Syria in attacks by the US-led international coalition.

Along with it, Amnestry echoed the Western media and politicians' claims by saying the Russian airstrikes, which began on September 30, 2015, reportedly killed hundreds of civilians. The report contains the assertions that that the airstrikes delivered by the Russian Aerospace Force jets "reportedly killed at least 600 civilians and struck at least 12 medical facilities in areas controlled or contested by non-state armed groups."

The organization did not cite the source of its data.

Russian defense officials have said on numerous occasions the Aerospace Force jets in Syria are delivering strikes only at the facilities and installations controlled by the terrorists. They have strongly denied any charges with attacks on civilians.

Russian forces launched an operation against the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nousra terrorist groupings on September 30 at a request from Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. At present, the Russian contingent there is operating 69 aircraft including 25 missile-carrying strategic jets Tupolev-160, Tupolev-95MS, and Tupolev-22M3.