Field reports indicated that more than 100 civilians were killed and 200 others injured, including children and women, in three months of the ongoing bombing campaign by the Assad regime and Russian forces in northern rural Hama.
The Syrian Civil Defense on Monday said that at least 344 civilians were killed and injured in northern rural Hama from the beginning of April to the end of June.
The Civil Defense’s media office in Hama said 104 civilians were killed, including seven children and 20 women, while 240 others were injured, including 39 children, 46 women and a civilian defense volunteer.
The office added that at least 1,953 airstrikes hit the towns and villages in northern and northwestern rural Hama during this period. It noted that the Assad regime’s helicopters dropped more than 1,423 barrel bombs on the region which was also hit with 19,520 artillery shells and rockets.
The Civil Defense pointed out that the bombings targeted hundreds of civilian homes, agricultural land, dozens of public roads, schools, popular markets, mosques and health and services facilities.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the ongoing airstrikes impacting civilians, including those on medical facilities and medical workers, in northwest Syria, his spokesman said Thursday.
“Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, must be protected,” said Guterres in a statement released by his spokesman. “Parties to the conflict must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Guterres said, adding that those behind the attacks must be held accountable.
The Syrian Coalition called upon the United Nations to condemn the Assad regime attacks against civilians in Idlib, calling for serious action to stop the bombing and ensure the protection of civilians.
The Coalition described the targeting of civilians as a “criminal act” as it stressed the need to activate the principle of accountability and transitional justice as well as to tighten the economic and legal sanctions on the Assad regime. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
