Russian air strikes 'killed over 400 Syrian civilians'
At least 97 children among casualties of military operations which began in late September, two monitoring groups say.
23 Nov 2015 08:22 GMT | War & Conflict, Middle East, Syria, Syrian crisis, Russia
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the death toll from September 30 - when the strikes were launched - until November 20 stood at 403 civilians, a figure that includes 97 children.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), another monitoring group, said at least 526 were killed, including 137 children, since Russia launched its first air strikes.
Syria: What the bombing has caused
* Over 400 civilians killed since September this year, including 97 children.
* The Syrian Network for Human Rights puts the figure at at least 526, including 137 children.
* Since last October, at least 42,234 air strikes have been documented.
* Over 22,370 'barrel bombs' have also been dropped in that period resulting in the death of 6,889 civilians, including 1,436 children, and injuring another 35,000 civilians.
* At least 100,000 people have fled from Aleppo, while another 1,000 fled an Atma displaced camp in Idlib's suburbs.
* The Syrian conflict has killed at least 250,000 people, according to the UN.
Sources: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights & Syrian Network for Human Rights
Russia's air force flew 141 sorties and hit 472 targets in Syria over the weekend, the RIA news agency quoted the country's defence ministry as saying on Monday.
Russian jets hit targets in Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Raqqa, Homs, and Deir Az Zor provinces, the ministry said.
On Sunday, Syrian government air strikes killed at least seven people, including three children, in Douma just outside of the capital Damascus, SOHR said.
It said at least seven civilians were killed on Saturday in government air strikes in Aleppo.
On Friday, Russia fired cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea for a fourth day against what it described as ISIL targets.
Russian and Syrian officials said their jets hit 50 ISIL targets in Deir Az Zor province, the most intense air raids since Russia began its air strikes.
Since last October, at least 42,234 air strikes that targeted farms, villages, towns and cities have been documented, according to SOHR.
It said over 22,370 so-called barrel bombs were dropped across the country in that period resulting in a total of 6,889 civilians deaths, including 1,436 children.
Another 35,000 civilians have been injured.
At least 100,000 people fled from Aleppo due to Russian air strikes, SNHR said, while another 1,000 fled a camp for the displaced in Atma, in Idlib city's suburbs.
Russia says the goal of its military operation in Syria is in response to a request by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and on the basis of a decision granted by its parliament.
Growing up in Aleppo: 'We are scared of the bombs'
The Syrian conflict has killed at least 250,000 people, according to the UN, and more than half of Syria's prewar population of 22.4 million has been internally displaced or have fled abroad.
Assad said what is happening in Syria was not a civil war but a war, he told Phoenix, a Chinese television channel.
You can say this is a civil war when you have a certain line that divides between different components of a certain society, whether sectarian or ethnic or maybe political line, something that we don't have in Syria," he said on Sunday.
"Civil war has internal factors, not states supporting terrorists who come to Syria while they announce publicly that their aim is to change the state or, like what they call it, the regime."
Assad also said that following the Russian intervention, the situation in Syria had improved in a "very good way".
Source: Al Jazeera
