According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Russian airstrikes against two villages in northern Syria, the Idlib village of Maarat al-Naasan and the Aleppo village of Maskanah, have hit marketplaces, killing a large number of civilians.
16 civilians have been reported killed so far in Maarat al-Nassan, and 23 others in Maskanah, with large numbers of wounded leading to the warning that the overall civilian death toll is likely to rise, potentially significantly. Four ISIS fighters were also killed in the strikes on Maskanah.
Maskaneh, on the shores of Lake Assad, is on the main highway between the ISIS capital city of Raqqa and the city of Aleppo. ISIS is among several factions trying to get a foothold in Aleppo, formerly Syria’s industrial and financial hub. The city has been contested for years now, and is in ruins.
Maarat al-Nassan, by contrast, is just south of the city of Idlib, the capital of al-Qaeda’s territory inside Syria. Russian airstrikes have heavily focused on al-Qaeda territory in the northwest, aiming to stall the expansion of al-Qaeda into Latakia, and to allow Syria to ultimately shore up its control over the routes between Damascus and the coast.
"According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights," this piece begins.
Stop reading right there.
Russia asked for evidence that it was killing civilians. Nothing was offered.
Has rhe "observatory" ever reported that US bombing has killed civilians.
Perhaps but they have been quiet, very, very, very quiet about it.
"
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.
Half of this article is an apology on behalf of the Russians.
Civilians death is apparently wrong only when it is done by political rivals..
Remember when this site was "anti" war?
Now its just "anti" west.
You didn't even read the article, did you?
I read the article. The point is the matter-of-fact way the event is reported, without comment either way. There's no doubt that if it hadn't been the Russians, we'd have been told it was a war crime and that would have been echoed by a list of bloggers as long as your arm. That that is so obvious means that the site has no credibility as a source of information. It's only value is to tell us what the pro-Putin/anti-EU camp is hyping and what it's sweeping under the carpet. The fact that this story is being reported at all tells us just how much of a mess Putin has got himself into.
Dec 9, 2015 US & Britain Planned Use of Islamic Extremists to Topple Syria 57 Years Ago
BBC reports that – in 1957 – the British and American leaders approved the use of Islamic extremists and false flag attacks to topple the Syrian government:
Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country… by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.
https://youtu.be/57Qk0wEPZWE
Classic guerilla war situation. Putin is totally bogged down.
Big failure in Syria by the Regime allies, Iran is drawing back, Hezbollah got hammered over the weekend losing 14 fighters and why the hell is the regime using barrel bombs if the Russkies are helping them?
Can anybody explain why the US especially wants regime change in the relative secular Syria – and not in all other more repressive islamic regimes in the Middle east and Northern Africa?
AntiWar & Jason Ditz should be more circumspect about some of their info sources.
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_…