Russian airstrikes kill over 200 civilians in Syria

Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians so far and caused massive destruction in residential areas, striking homes, a mosque and a busy market, as well as medical facilities, the report of the Amnesty International showed.

The research of the Amnesty International included the 25 attacks in Homs, Idlib and Aleppo provinces between September and November 2015 which killed at least 200 civilians and about a dozen terrorists.

In one of the deadliest attacks documented in the briefing three missiles were fired on a busy market in the center of Ariha in Idlib governorate, killing 49 civilians.

In another suspected Russian attack, at least 46 civilians, including 32 children and 11 women who were sheltering in the basement of a residential building were killed on October 15 in al-Ghantu, Homs governorate.

Russian airstrikes have also attacked mosques and the hospitals despite the fact that medical facilities have special protection under international humanitarian law, and attacking them can amount to a war crime.

The report also revealed Russia's the use of banned prohibited cluster munitions and blind bombs, which cause a large number of casualties, especially in the residential areas.

“Russia must end indiscriminate and other unlawful attacks. They must halt all use of cluster munitions and stop dropping unguided bombs on civilian areas," said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.

Fighting between the regime and the armed groups killed and injured thousands and caused further mass population displacement and refugee outflows, particularly to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, according to the Amnesty International.

By the end of the year, the conflict had caused a total of around 200,000 deaths, according to the UN.

Also, 7.6 million people were internally displaced and approximately 4 million had become refugees in other countries.