Syrian troops deliberately bombing civilians, report says

In an 80-page report, Death from the skies: deliberate and indiscriminate air strikes on civilians, Human Rights Watch says it believes, based on information from Syrian activists, that more than 4,300 civilians have been killed as a result of Syrian Air Force strikes.

In village after village, we found a civilian population terrified by their country’s own air force. Ole Solvang, Human Rights Watch

It also believes that there has been deliberate targeting of bakeries whilst civilians were queuing for bread and of hospitals.

‘Terrified’

The report was based on visits to 50 sites of government air strikes in opposition controlled areas in Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia governorates, and interviews with 140 witnesses and victims.

“In village after village, we found a civilian population terrified by their country’s own air force,” said Ole Solvang, a Human Rights Watch emergencies researcher who visited the sites and conducted interviews.

“These illegal air strikes killed and injured many civilians and sowed a path of destruction, fear, and displacement.”

Read more: Syria's Descent - a special report from Channel 4 News

The report says the government has been conducting air strikes on a daily basis since July 2012. From the sites Human Rights Watch visited, they were able to document the deaths of at least 152 civilians.

Bakeries

According to a Syrian opposition group, the report says, government forces have attacked 78 bakeries across Syria, either through air strikes of by artillery shelling.

During Human Rights Watch visits, the charity documented eight air strikes on four bakeries in Aleppo, al-Bab and Mare, which killed at least 35 civilians.

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The charity said bakeries which are run by the opposition in opposition-controlled areas are the only source of bread for the civilian population, and as such are protected under international law.

According to accounts from one bakery, a Syrian helicopter circled above a bakery before it opened, prior to attacking it. Human Rights Watch said the report suggests the helicopter was waiting for a queue of people before launching the assault.

Hospitals

Human Rights Watch also reported repeated attacks on two hospitals in areas visited. In Aleppo, the report said, jets and helicopters launched at least eight attacks on the Dar al-Shifa hospital over the course of four months.

Under the Geneva Conventions, hospitals and other medical facilities must be “respected and protected” in all circumstance.

In the town of Salma in Latakia governorate, helicopters repeatedly dropped improvised aerial bombs in the vicinity of a makeshift hospital, eventually destroying it, the report said.

Following one attack, on November 21 2012, SANA, the state-run news agency, said armed forces had “carried out operations targeting terrorist hideouts in… Dar al-Shifa Hospital in al-Sha’ar area” which had “resulted in the death of tens of terrorists and the destruction of their weapons and equipment.”

Human Rights Watch said it had not seen any signs of opposition activity at the hopsital, but had heard reports that a small group of opposition fighters was staying in the building.

The charity also reported a number of cluster bomb attacks and other unlawful airstrikes.

It has been estimated that more than 70,0000 people have died as a result of clashes in Syria.