At least 18 civilians were killed and 40 wounded in “probably Russian” air strikes on a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria yesterday, a monitoring group said.
Advertisement
The attacks were reportedly carried out near the town’s marketplace, and while there isn’t a formal split of the slain yet, initial reports indicated some civilians among the slain, along with a “leading opposition” figure in the town.
Moscow says its target is ISIS but the overwhelming majority of its strikes have been against other opponents of Assad.
Russian Federation began its bombing campaign in Syria September 30, intervening in the conflict in order to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime regain territory that it had lost to rebel groups in recent months.
Syria’s neighbours have charged that Russian planes have strayed into their airspace on multiple occasions during the campaign.
Russian airstrikes in northwest Syria have heavily targeted ethnic Turkmen areas, according to a Reuters data analysis of Russian Defense Ministry data.
The executions were carried out from October 29 to Sunday in Islamic State-held areas in Syria including Raqqa, the de facto capital of the al-Qaeda splinter group. The Turkish government refuses to apologize for the incident. It also alleged the weapons were supplied in exchange for looted Syrian and Iraqi antiquities and oil sold at low prices.
Dozens of people are also said to have been wounded. Rebels were shown using one to destroy a grounded Russian helicopter this week. Iran has been one of Assad’s strongest supporters over the past years.
Advertisement
Assad said the defeat of rebel groups fighting to topple his rule was a prerequisite for the “success of any political solution decided by Syrians”. Moscow says it targets the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other “terrorists”, but critics accuse it of targeting other rebel groups more than ISIL.
