Home NEWS WORLD NEWS Russia’s airstrikes in Syria have killed 1,400 civilians

Russia’s airstrikes in Syria have killed 1,400 civilians

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Russia’s airstrikes in Syria have killed 1,400 civilians

Amman, Reuters, 30 January 2016 – Russian airstrikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday.


The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said the Russian strikes had also killed 965 ISIS fighters as well as 1,233 Syrian rebels.


The main Syrian opposition group in Geneva for peace talks on Saturday has demanded a halt to a joint Russian and Syrian bombing campaign they say targets mostly civilians in rebel held areas as a pre-condition for engaging in talks with the Syrian government.


Russia began a major aerial campaign on Sept. 30 to help its ally Syrian President Bashar al Assad. The airstrikes tilted the war in Assad’s way after major setbacks earlier in 2015 brought rebel groups close to the coastal heartland of his Alawite sect.


Moscow says it is targeting ISIS militants but rebels and residents say the Russian air strikes are causing hundreds of civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas away from the frontline.