The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that Russian forces have killed 6,239 civilians since Sep. 30, 2015, when their intervention in support of the Syrian regime began. This is in addition to carrying out dozens of massacres and striking hundreds of civilian centers and medical teams.
In a report, which came out on the third anniversary of the intervention, the network said that 6,239 civilians had been killed by Russian warplanes, including 1,804 children.
It said that the largest number of victims were from Aleppo, Idleb and Deir ez-Zor provinces. It also carried out 321 massacres, and 954 incidents of aggression against civilian centers, with 176 against schools, 166 against medical centers and 55 on markets, since the start of the military intervention.
The report said that Russian forces had killed 92 medical staff and Civil Defense members as well as 19 media staff, while Russian forces have also been recorded using cluster bombs and incendiary weapons since their intervention.
The report said that the escalating scale of violence carried out by Russian forces had a major impact on causing displacement, and that its attacks, along with those carried out by the Syrian-Iranian alliance, had contributed to the displacement of about 2.7 million people.
The report recorded the deaths of 958 civilians, including 342 children, 17 medical staff, and two media staff at the hands of Russian forces, as well as carrying out at least 59 massacres, with at least 183 attacks on civilian centers, between Sept 30, 2017 and Sept 20, 2018.
It said that Russian forces, since the first days of its intervention, had resorted to using indiscriminate and heavy air bombardments, which aimed to sow terror in areas not under regime control, end all forms of resistance, and push them to surrender. Most of the bombardments have been without military justification, according to the laws of war, and Russian forces have used highly destructive weapons, in addition to repeatedly using cluster bombs and incendiary weapons, especially in populated areas.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
