Russia's Guided Bomb Units deepen Aleppo’s Tragedy

Reporting by Ammar Bakkour

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Russia escalated its use of destructive weaponry against Syrians, deepening Aleppo’s People’s Tragedy.

Russian warplanes began using Guided Bomb Unit 28 (GBU-28) which have a massive destructive capability. It used the bombs against the Aleppo’s eastern neighborhoods for the third consecutive day in addition to its regular bombardment with thermobaric bombs, cluster bombs, and phosphorous bombs.

Russian warplanes repeatedly used the GBU-28 bombs, known as shelter destroyers, targeting Bistan al-Qasir, al-Mashhad, and Tareeq al-Bab neighborhoods and other neighborhoods according to activists who documented the bombing with images and video recordings. The attack on the neighborhoods led to the collapse of tens of residential buildings on occupants’ heads leading to the death of over 150 civilians in less than 48 hours among them many women and children.

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Dissident officers speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, denied that the regime possessed GBU-28 bombs that penetrate the ground. A segment of a video broadcasted by Russia Today channel showed the bombs being attached to Russian warplanes at Hmeimem airbase in preparation to target Syrian cities.

Samer Qaribi, a member of the Provincial Council of Free Aleppo, said to Zaman al-Wasl that the destructive force of the GBU-28 exceeds the destruction of the thermobaric bombs. He confirmed that every GBU-28 equates in its destruction 5 explosive barrels at once. The bombs also create a 10-meter-tall crater with a width greater than 6 meters, and a depth ranging between 2 meters and a half and 3 meters.

Russia's Guided Bomb Units deepen Aleppo’s People’s Tragedy

Qaribi added to Zaman al-Wasl that more than one four storey high residential building collapse when one GBU-28 is launched. He indicated, “what I saw is the targeting of the square in al-Mashhad neighborhood, the civil defense station, and the residential area in al-Ansar eastern neighborhood. I did not expect the warplanes could launch bombs with such destructive force.”

The activist clarified that the bombs breach buildings to the depth of 4 to 6 meters before exploding. They create a localized earthquake or shaking in the area bombed leading to the collapse of other residential buildings as what happened in Bistan al-Qasir on Saturday evening.

Guided Bomb Units 28 are specialized for bombing underground shelters, bunkers, or fortified centers according to international military references and studies. Its production began in the 1990s. GBU-28 has a reach of 9 kilometers, and the length of the missile reaches 7,5 meters. Different weights of the bomb are made as the smallest starts from 1 ton reaching 2291 kilograms. They are launched using laser guided control.

Guided Bomb Units 28, which reach a total weight of 2291 kilograms, contain 295 kilograms of the explosive substance Tritonal which is a mix between TNT (80%) and Aluminum powder (20%). GBU-28 can penetrate 6 meters into a building and it may reach 30 meters underground before exploding based on the strength of the bomb build and its size.

According to observers, Russian warplanes using Guided Bomb Units 28 against besieged civilians is a grave violation of its claim it is seeking to reach a political solution in Syria. The bombing has increased residents’ suffering, increased the number of victims in comparison to the aerial bombardment of the previous 6 years amid a severe lack of medical equipment and many hospitals in Aleppo’s eastern neighborhoods going out of service due to intense aerial bombing directly targeting the hospitals.