Amnesty: Russian Strikes May Be War Crimes

Amnesty International said on Wednesday that nearly three months of Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians, many in targeted attacks that could constitute war crimes, AFP reports.

According to Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa director for the rights group, some of the raids “appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians.”

“Such attacks,” said Luther, “may amount to war crimes,” adding that it “is crucial that suspected violations are independently and impartially investigated.”

The rights group, which is based in London, claims there is “evidence suggesting that Russian authorities may have lied to cover up civilian damage to a mosque from one airstrike and a field hospital in another.”

Amnesty said there is also “evidence suggesting Russia’s use of internationally banned cluster munitions and of unguided bombs in populated areas.”

U.N. Calls for Urgent Aid Deliveries to 13.5 Million

In the face of a growing humanitarian crisis in Syria, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Tuesday demanding that all combatants, and especially the Syrian government, allow the delivery of food and medicine to more than 13.5 million people.

The resolution extends the window for cross-border aid deliveries into Syria until January 10, 2017, AP reports.

The council, which expressed distress over “the devastating humanitarian situation” and its “outrage” at the increasing violence, said it had growing concern over impediments to the delivery of aid.

Of the 13.5 million people across the country in need of food and medical assistance, 6.5 million have fled their homes and are now internationally displaced, and 4.5 million are living in “hard-to-reach areas.”

The Council accused the self-proclaimed Islamic State and the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front of “deliberate interference and obstruction,” but the largest amount of criticism was reserved for Bashar al-Assad’s government.

“Acute malnourishment and disease is prevalent, and yet nothing seems to create a sense of urgency in dealing with these requests by the U.N. on the part of the Syrian government,” U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said Tuesday after the vote.

Syria Talks Planned for End of January: U.N.

United Nations special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura will hold Syria peace talks in Geneva next month, a U.N. official said Tuesday according to Reuters.

The announcement comes after Friday’s endorsement by the U.N. Security Council of a timeline for a Syria peace process.

“The intention is that (de Mistura) starts some time toward the end of January,” said Michael Moller, head of the U.N.’s Geneva office, adding that he hoped the first half of next month would bring more clarity.

“Mr. De Mistura is, as you know, basically living on a plane these days. Every day, evolutions in how things are being planned and being perceived by the different parties make it very hard to give you some idea of how this is going to evolve.”

The U.N.-brokered talks aim to establish “credible, inclusive and nonsectarian governance” in Syria and a new constitution in a country torn apart by nearly five years of civil war.

Recommended Reads

• Bloomberg: Assad Is Reaching Out to Washington Insiders
• Los Angeles Review of Books: Syria and Surrealism by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
• The Washington Post: What are the Kurdish Women’s Units Fighting for in Syria?
• Al-Monitor: U.N. Hopes to Hit ‘Moving Target’ of Syria Talks by Late January
• The Washington Post: As Bombing in Syria Intensifies, a Debate About the Rules of Engagement

Top image: Syrian refugee Hind Salem, who fled from Russian airstrikes with her family from the central Syrian town of Palmyra, sits on the ground with her kids at their unfurnished home, in the Turkish-Syrian border city of Reyhanli, southern Turkey, on Oct. 23, 2015. “We had no intention to leave our country at all. But the Russian airstrikes made us leave,” she said. A new report by a human rights watchdog group accuses Russia of using cluster munitions and unguided bombs on civilian areas in Syria in attacks that it says have killed hundreds of people. The report by Amnesty International released Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015 says there has been a surge in reports of the use of cluster munitions in the areas being targeted by Russian forces since Moscow formally joined the conflict Sept. 30. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)