A series of Russian airstrikes against different rargets in northern Syria have killed at least 46 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. No combatants were reported slain in the strikes.
The main focus of the strikes was the ISIS capital city of Raqqa, as well as the Idlib town of Jisr al-Shuguhr, which is under the control of al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra. 19 were killed in Raqqa, including six children, and two rescue workers.
Russian airstrikes have chiefly targeted al-Qaeda territory in Idlib and the surrounding area, aiming to allow a Syrian military offensive to reclaim some of the territory they’ve lost to the al-Qaeda Islamist coalition, and secure routes between the capital city of Damascus and the coast.
US and British officials have been slamming Russia for launching so many airstrikes against factions other than ISIS, though the US has launched more than a few attacks on al-Qaeda as well. Russia has increased its strikes in Raqqa to try to placate the West, though seemingly with no more success at hitting actually combatants than the Western nations have.
"….according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights…."
dear jason,
who or what exactly is this "organization"? where do they actually get their
information? is it verified, or your basic "unnamed officials said……."?
how about their funding? are they owned and operated by some
clandestine service?
the name is awesome! sounds so unbiased and authoritative! and every
western press outlet seems to quote their press releases as gospel, without
even the obligatory "the pentagon denies this" or "the regime disputes this."
it seems to me like another version of "incubator babies" or "viagra for
the troops", but what do i know?
so jason, think you might have time for a little investigative journalism?
Jason,
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a farce. It behooves me why you would print any info from it.
AntiWar & Jason Ditz should be more circumspect about some of their info sources.
The SOHR is a one-man operation run out of London by an anti-Assad Sunni who hasn't been in Syria for 15 years.
RE:Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
"The United Kingdom-based SOHR is run out of a two-bedroom terraced home in Coventry by one person, Rami Abdulrahman, a Syrian Sunni Muslim …
After being imprisoned three times in Syria, Abdulrahman fled to the United Kingdom.
…
In a 2015 interview with Russia Today, Abdulrahman stated that the last time he visited Syria was in the year 2000."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Observatory_…
(what's next, quoting Kiev government sources as though "fact" )
T"he US has launched more than a few attacks on al-Qaeda as well". As always, when Russia does it, it's just what everybody else is doing, when the US does it, it's a war crime.
So the Russian airstrikes have killed some civilians – according to some bloke in Coventry who is in touch with some people in Syria with a proven history of just making stuff up. Those are the same lying ****bags who reported civilian casualties from Russian airstrikes before the first plane had even taken off.