Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo, northern Syria, on November 22, 2012
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented the Syrian Air Force repeatedly carrying out indiscriminate, and in some cases deliberate, air strikes using explosive weapons against civilians.
The 80-page report, “Death from the Skies: Deliberate and Indiscriminate Air Strikes on Civilians” is based on visits to 50 sites of government air strikes in opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo, Idlib, and Latakia governorates, and more than 140 interviews with witnesses and victims. The air strikes Human Rights Watch documented killed at least 152 civilians. According to a network of local Syrian activists, air strikes have killed more than 4,300 civilians across Syria since July 2012.
It includes the following incidents:
* Deliberately targeted four bakeries where civilians were waiting in breadlines a total of eight times, and hitting other bakeries with artillery attacks
* Repeated aerial attacks on two hospitals
* Use of unguided bombs dropped by high-flying helicopters, that under the circumstances could not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and thus were indiscriminate.
* A jet dropping two bombs on the town of Akhtarin in northern Aleppo destroying three houses and killing seven civilians, including five children. The strike injured another five children, all under 5.
The government’s use of unlawful means of attack has also included cluster munitions, weapons that have been banned by most nations because of their indiscriminate nature.
INEW members have previously voiced strong concern at the severe harm to civilians, including children, caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas in Syria.
INEW calls on states and other actors to:
− Acknowledge that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas tends to cause severe harm to individuals and communities and furthers suffering by damaging vital infrastructure;
− Strive to avoid such harm and suffering in any situation, and recognise the need to end the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas;
− Review and strengthen national policies and practices on use of explosive weapons, develop stronger international standards;
− Gather and make available relevant data, work for the full realisation of the rights of victims and survivors.