The Emergency Response Coordinators Team said that about 295,000 people had been displaced by the ongoing bombing campaign by the Assad regime and Russian forces in the areas covered by the Idlib Agreement.
In a statement on Monday, the aid group expressed concern about the high number of the displaced people from the region in general and the demilitarized zone in particular, slamming the international silence about the violations against civilians.
Since the Idlib Agreement was reached on September 17, 2018, the Assad regime and is allies launched three military campaigns in the region, the group said. The first campaign begun in October 2018, during which 37,245 people were displaced. The second bombing campaign begun in December 2018, during which 41,367 people were displaced.
According to the Team, the third campaign begun in February 2019, during which 34,726 families (216,348 people) were displaced. The Team noted that it continues to count the number of displaced persons from the area who sought refuge in more than 35 sub-districts in the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas as well as near the border with Turkey.
According to the report, 418 civilians have been killed since the Idlib agreement was reached on September 17, 2018, 272 of whom were killed in Idlib province.
The report indicated that more than 312 civilians were killed during the third bombing campaign, including 107 children. Of those, Idlib 234 civilians, including 87 children, were killed in Idlib province. The victims also included 68 civilians, among them 16 children, who were killed in Hama province. It also said that eight civilians, including three children, were killed in in Aleppo province, while two people were killed in Latakia province.
The Team stressed that the repeated targeting of civilian infrastructure is a war crime the perpetrators of which must be held to account. It noted that Russia and the Assad regime are avidly seeking to empty the area of the civilian population, which amounts to a war crime that the regime has been pursuing since early 2015. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
