Russia airstrikes in Syria could amount to war crimes, says Amnesty International

A report released today by rights group Amnesty International says Russian air raids have killed hundreds of civilians in Syria. It says many of those raids could constitute war crimes.

A Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet takes off from the Hmeymim air base near Latakia, Syria. Russian Defence Ministry

It’s not the first time Russian airstrikes, which began over three months ago, in Syria are being criticised. What's different with this report by Amnesty International is that it gives well documented examples of what happened on the ground.

Amnesty says some of those raids appear to have directly targetted civilians by striking "residential areas where there is no evident military target" - and the organisation says the strikes have even targetted medical facilities.

The rights group says such action could amount to war crimes.

“We have documented, in detail, six attacks,” Anna Neistat, Amnesty International's Senior Director of Research told RFI. “They included airstrikes on residential areas, homes and a mosque. The second conclusion, equally important, is that Russian authorities may have lied about the fact they have been only targeting terrorists. We’re giving very specific examples of basically forged evidence, their non-involvement on a strike of a mosque, in this case.”

The Russian authorities were quick to react to the news. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said the government hadn't seen the report but would look into it.

“We believe that Russians themselves might start an investigation,” says Anna Neistat. “I should emphasise that we provided all of this information to the Russian Defence Ministry a month ago, seeking some clarification over the attacks and urging them to investigate. We’re calling on Russia to exercise caution and to abide by international humanitarian law.”

The Russians say they haven't received any reports of civilian casualties since the end of September - they are also contesting Amnesty sources on the ground.

But the report, which focuses on attacks in Homs, Idlib and Aleppo provinces between September and November, says at least 200 people have been killed.

The British rights group says in one of the deadliest incidents, 49 civilians were killed when three missiles were fired at a busy market in the Idlib locality of Ariha. Witnesses are quoted as describing how the market became a scene of carnage in seconds.

Moscow argues that its air force is only striking terrorist targets. But the country is not the only one which has launched air strikes on the war-torn country. France, Britain and the US are also been bombing targets there.

“The US in particular [...] has admitted in killing at least two civilians,” says Neistat. “This is of course far less that in reality, but there is at least an investigation conducted into those attacks. All actors who are involved in the operation in Syria, and specifically airstrikes, are causing massive civilian damage.”

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since started in March 2011.