Syria air strikes 'target civilians'
13 April BBC
The Syrian Air Force is carrying out both deliberate air strikes
against civilians and indiscriminate attacks, a leading rights group has
warned.Human Rights Watch says it visited 52 sites in north-western
Syria, documenting 59 such unlawful attacks.
It points out that both types of attacks estimated to have killed
thousands are serious violations of international law.It criticises
Russia and China for blocking UN action against Damascus.Between October
2011 and July 2012 they vetoed three proposed UN Security Council
resolutions against the Syrian government.
HRW says measures by the UN, such as targeted sanctions, an arms
embargo and the referral of the situation to the International Criminal
Court, are urgently needed. It says the Syrian government's unlawful
actions are behind many of the 70,000 deaths estimated to have resulted
from the conflict.
In its report Death from the Skies HRW says that since late July 2012
regular air strikes by Syrian Air Force fighter jets and helicopters
have been launched on "cities, towns and neighbourhoods under the
control of opposition forces".
HRW visited opposition-controlled sites in Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia
governorates in the country's north west between last August and
December, and spoke to witnesses and victims of attacks, along with four
Syrian Air Force defectors.
It also saw some attacks at first hand.Continue reading the main
story Many of the sites it visited had been under opposition control for
weeks or months, with no recent ground fighting at the time of the
attacks.
Nonetheless, it found evidence that government forces had launched
strikes and artillery attacks on bakeries and civilians waiting to buy
bread, and on hospitals, with strong evidence those facilities had been
deliberately targeted.
In other cases, Syrian forces had used means such as unguided bombs,
incendiary bombs (which start fires and can cause casualties over large
areas), and large high-explosive munitions whose effects were rendered
indiscriminate by the nature of their use.
In dozens of cases, HRW found that, "despite high civilian
casualties, damage to opposition headquarters and other structures was
minimal and, as far as Human Rights Watch could establish, there were no
casualties among opposition fighters".
The four defectors told HRW that commanders ordered strikes on urban
areas despite being unable to take adequate measures to protect
civilians "in part to instil fear in the civilian population in
opposition strongholds, and also to deprive the opposition of its
support".
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