Tens of thousands flee Russian airstrikes in Syria

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Wednesday 28 Oct 2015 - 11:27 Makkah mean time-15-1-1437 Damascus, (IINA) - Tens of thousands of Syrians are fleeing Russian airstrikes as warplanes target civilian areas, Anadolu Agency reported. Atmeh refugee camp on the Syrian-Turkish border has been witnessing an increase in the number of refugees from Hama, Homs, Idlib and Aleppo provinces since Russia began its airstrikes on September 30. Abdulkarim Al-Ahmad, a refugee, pointed out: “Russian planes have been bombarding residential areas, civilians and children day and night. We had no choice but to run away when our house was demolished”. Most of the refugees come from areas where Bashar Al-Assad’s forces are facing opposition groups. Al-Ahmad said that the grounds held by the rebels were being particularly targeted. Russia has claimed that it is only targetting terrorism in general and ISIS in particular. However, members of the anti-ISIS military alliance, including Turkey, say that civilians and moderate opposition forces fighting the regime are enduring the most of the strikes. Another refugee Ahmad Abu Saleh said: “Clashes have intensified in Aleppo and other cities with the help of Russian airstrikes. Around 20,000 people have left their homes over the past seven days and settled in tent camps along the border”. He added: “We came here with about 300 other families. We were afraid of being bombed on the way, as they drop barrel bombs on those who flee”. On the contrary, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, described media reports on civilian deaths caused by Russian airstrikes as “disinformation”. Addressing journalists at a teleconference on Monday, he said: “A lot of false stories were published over the recent weeks regarding the civilian deaths in Russia's air operations in Syria”, noting that Russia's priority in choosing targets was to avoid harming the civilian population. He also noted that terrorists were hiding in residential areas as they knew Russian warplanes would not target those locations. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Russian air attacks have killed at least 127 civilians, including 36 children. “Russia talks about precision strikes, yet accounts from the ground and footage from the aftermath indicate that many civilians are being killed”, the observatory said. “Russia needs to take all necessary measures to protect civilians from their own strikes”. AG/IINA