Amnesty: Syria, Russia responsible for war crimes in Idlib

May 11, 2020

Syria and Russia have deliberately targeted civilians in northwest Syria, according to a new report by Amnesty International, which documented more than a dozen attacks it said amounted to war crimes. 

The UK-based rights group recorded 18 air and ground attacks on hospitals and schools between May 5, 2019, and Feb. 25, 2020. Most of the attacks — centered in Idlib, Hama and western Aleppo — took place during the first two months of this year during a government-led offensive to retake the rebel-held province.

Amnesty interviewed 74 people, including internally displaced Syrians, teachers, doctors and aid workers. Their witness accounts were corroborated by videos, photographs, satellite imagery, flight spotters on the ground and intercepted Russian and Syrian air force flight communications.

After nearly a decade of war, Idlib is the last major swath of territory still in the hands of the opposition. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces now control roughly two-thirds of the country, is intent on recapturing it. 

A renewed Russian-backed air and ground campaign in December displaced roughly 1 million from the northwest enclave, most of them women and children, according to the United Nations. Many headed north toward the sealed Turkish border and found refuge in overcrowded camps and abandoned buildings.