The heavy and indiscriminate bombardments have been a standard since the first days of the intervention of Russian forces in Syria on September 30, 2018, which generated a state of panic and terrorization in the areas that broke away from the Syrian regime’s control, as it aimed to end all forms of resistance and force these areas to submit and surrender.
Most of the bombardments had no military justification in accordance with the law of raw, as Russian forces used highly-destructive weapons, in addition to using cluster munitions and incendiary ammunitions, particularly in populated areas.
The report, which was released today by SNHR on the 3rd anniversary of the Russian military intervention, outlines the reports that document the most notable violations by Russian forces since the start of their military intervention in Syria on September 30, 2015, and the violations that followed, including killing, destruction, and forced displacement.
The report stresses that Russia’s support for the Syrian regime has made Russia implicated in the war crimes that the Syrian regime has been perpetrating since March 2011. The report adds that Russia has abusively used its veto power 12 times to protect a regime that has perpetrated the most horrendous crimes in the modern age, effectively obstructing any resolution to hold it accountable. Of those vetoes, six were related to the file of chemical weapons, as Russian hindered the extension of the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) and obstructed the investigation into the Douma attack in April 2018, and impeded the work of IIIM.
Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, says that Russia is delusional in believing that completely dominating and crushing the Syrian people will end the path of accountability. Russia has to fully realize that it has invested in a rotten and failed regime that can’t be rehabilitated or legitimized.
With every day that investment goes on, it leads to greater failure and loss.
In order to bring back stability to the Syrian community and state, Russia has to atone for its crimes, compensate victims, and rid the Syrian people of this brutal regime.”
In parallel with its methods of killing and destruction in Syria, Russia has made sure to take the lead on the political front by supporting agreements and truces that saw Russia either as a sponsor or a party. The report notes that Russian forces deliberately violated those agreements, which demonstrated a carefully planned scheme that aims to dismantle and exhaust the areas that broke away from the Syrian regime’s control, so they submit one by one.
The report documents that 6,239 civilians have been killed at the hands of Russian forces, including 1,804 children, between the start of their military intervention in Syria and September 30, 2018. The report breaks down the death toll by year, as the first two years saw most of those deaths. On the other hand, Aleppo, Idlib, and Deir Ez-Zour governorates recorded the majority of those deaths.
In addition, the report documents no less than 321 massacres perpetrated by Russian forces and 954 attack
The report adds that Russian forces killed 92 medical and civil defense personnel, in addition to 19 media workers.
Further, the report notes that Russian forces have used cluster munitions in no less than 232 attacks and incendiary ammunitions in 125 attacks since the start of their intervention.
The intensified violence by Russian forces has had the largest impact in terms of forced displacement, as Russian attacks, in parallel with the attacks carried out by the Syrian-Iranian alliance, have resulted in the displacement of approximately 2.7 million people.
Between September 30, 2017, and September 30, 2018, the report records, Russian forces killed 958 civilians, including 342 children, 17 medical personnel, and two media workers. In addition, Russian forces were responsible for 59 massacres and no less than 183 attacks on vital civilian facilities.
The report stresses that the Russian regime has, beyond any doubt, violated Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254 which both state that indiscriminate attacks must be ceased. Also, the Russian regime has violated, through the crime of willful killing, Articles 7 and 8 of Rome Statue, which constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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