The Department of Documentation of Human Rights Violations in the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) issued a report on the massacre which was committed by the Russian air force in the town of Atareb in western rural Aleppo claiming the lives of 67 people and injuring dozens more.
According to the report, Russian jets carried out three air strikes using six high-explosive missiles in the attack on Atareb. The report relied on interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses as well as medical and local staff and direct examination of the site of the attack.
The report indicated that the popular market in Atareb had been targeted by intensive airstrikes twice prior to the attack on Monday. The first attack took place on April 24, 2014 and resulted in the death of 52 civilians, while the second aerial attack targeted the market on July 25, 2016 and resulted in the death of 23 civilians.
SIG’s Head Jawad Abu Hatab said the Russian attack on Atareb had caused massive destruction to civilian homes, shops, infrastructure and warehouses of medicine.
Meanwhile, the Free Police Force in Aleppo province said that 13 policemen were killed and eight more were wounded in the attack on Atareb on Monday and whose names were listed in the report.
The Department called for holding criminals of the Assad regime and their allied foreign militias accountable, stressing the need to bring all those involved in crimes against the Syrian people to justice.
SIG’s Department of Documentation of Human Rights Violations is a governmental institution operating on Syrian territory and is headquartered in the liberated north. The Department documents and monitors violations of international humanitarian law, international law, and international criminal law being committed by the Assad regime and its allies against the Syrian people. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
