Airwars
For the past week starting Monday June 25th, to Sunday July 1st, the Airwars’ research team tracked 50 alleged Russian civilian casualty events in Syria –compared to five the week before. All incidents were reported in Dara'a governorate where for the past year, Russia had not carried out any air strike following a ceasefire agreement adopted in July 2017 between Jordan, Russia and the United States.
Reports of Russian raids on Dara'a started on June 24th where Russian and regime forces are engaged in an offensive to recapture the south from rebel forces. The situation quickly deteriorated resulting in a disastrous situation for the civilians. Aside from a large number of casualty allegations monitored by Airwars during the past week, The Syrian Network for Human Right estimates that around 200 thousand civilians have been displaced and with Jordan closing the border most of them are waiting in the area along the Syrian-Jordanian border with no prospect of a solution in sight.
Most of the strikes are contested between Russia and the regime and have allegedly killed between 151 and 201 civilians, including at least 12-14 children and 19-24 women and wounded at least 165 civilians.
In a pattern similar to the one we saw in Eastern Ghouta earlier this year, the air strikes destroyed residential buildings, shelters, hospitals and even cars trying to flee to safety. Make shift clinics ran out of medicines and tools and a number of paramedics and journalists were killed. The photos that have emerged of the aftermath of these strikes are too graphic and disturbing to publish.
One of the worst incidents, which was widely blamed on Russia, reportedly killed between 50-66 civilians and wounded dozens in Al-Massifra, Dara'a on Sunday June 28th. Shaam News Network reported that "at least 20 civilians were killed in a shelter for civilians in an initial death toll due to Russian air strikes". Smart news agency reported that "66 civilians were killed when Russia warplanes bombed three shelters for displaced civilians where the majority of the casualties were women and children".
Daily Sabah, a Turkish newspapaer, published this photo of a hospital destroyed by Russian air strike in Al-Massifra, Dara'a.
Our weekly Russia monitoring is compiled by Airwars Syria researcher Abdulwahab Tahhan.
Usual looting:
Hundreds of thousands civilians expelled from houses in the middle of the summer:
Without revolutions u would still live in stone age.
