ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Syrian-Russian attack in Idlib that killed 12 civilians, including four children, reveals the human cost of the resumption of unlawful airstrikes, according to a human rights report released on Wednesday, which calls on the international community to impose targeted sanctions on commanders implicated in war crimes.
A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report into artillery attacks in Idlib confirms that Syrian-Russian forces fired 14 large-caliber artillery shells into Ariha town on October 20, killing 12 civilians, including children, and injuring a further 24 by shelling in the rebel-held province.
The lack of military targets amid the homes, stores, schools, and markets that were targeted suggests an indiscriminate attack, the report says, and fits a pattern of unlawful Syrian and Russian attacks that are intended to kill civilians: war crimes that may amount to crimes against humanity.
HRW documented the use of explosive weapons, interviewing eight witnesses of the Ariha attack and analysing 52 videos and 64 photographs taken during and after the strikes to compile its report which shows an indiscriminate attack on civilians.
International humanitarian law requires all sides to direct attacks on military objectives, not civilians. Attacks in which there are no military targets, such as in this case, are disproportionate and unlawful.
“Syria and Russia appear to have violated the laws of war with deadly consequences for civilians there,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Once again, Idlib’s children are victim to callous and unlawful military actions.”
The province of Idlib is under the control of rebel groups, some with ties to jihadists. Turkish-backed militias control areas of the north, and a Kurdish-led administration governs the northeast. President Bashar al-Assad is in control of about 70 percent of Syrian territory.
“All parties should redouble efforts to protect civilians in the 10-year Syria conflict,” Wille said. “Other governments should use their influence and the legal, economic, and political tools at their disposal to stand up for civilians in Idlib and to avoid a humanitarian crisis.”
Two Turkish soldiers were killed and four others injured in a roadside explosion in Idlib on October 15, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported; days before the attack in Idlib that left twelve civilians dead and, earlier that morning, 14 people who were killed by two roadside bombs that exploded near a Syrian military bus in the capital Damascus.
On Tuesday, Israeli missiles struck the port of Latakia in Syria.
According to figures from the United Nations, over 350,000 people have been killed, and around 12 million displaced, in the decade-long conflict that began with the regime’s repression of anti-government protests.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), around 6.6 million Syrians are refugees.
In a previous report published in October, HRW warned that Syrians who returned home from Lebanon and Jordan have been subjected to abuses including torture, killing, and disappearance by the regime and allied militias and that the country is not yet safe for refugees to return.
