UN Probe: Russia Responsible for November Idlib Strike in Syria

  • 3/6/2018
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United Nations war crimes investigators accused on Tuesday Russia of being behind an air strike that left 84 people dead in Syria’s Idlib. The findings were reported by the UNs Commission of Inquiry on Syria on Tuesday. It is the first time the commission has pinned responsibility for civilian deaths in Syria on Russia. T The report said that "all available information" indicates a Russian plane carried out the November 13 airstrike that hit a market, surrounding houses and a police station run by Western-backed Syrian rebels in the town of Atarib, in northern Idlib. At least 84 people were killed and about another 150 were wounded in the attack. The commission, which was created nearly seven years ago to document human rights violations by any side in Syrias war, says the plane that carried out the airstrike took off from an air base in Syria run by Russian forces, the Hmeimem air base. Later on Tuesday, France and Britain requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the failure of the 30-day ceasefire to take hold in Syria. The council is expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss the air strikes and clashes in the Syrian enclave of Eastern Ghouta that have continued despite a ceasefire demanded by the top UN body ten days ago. Backed by Russia, the council unanimously adopted on February 24 a resolution demanding the 30-day cessation of hostilities to allow deliveries of humanitarian aid and evacuations of the sick and wounded. A first aid convoy reached Eastern Ghouta on Monday but the operation was cut short as regime air strikes pounded the enclave, killing at least 68 civilians, according to a human rights monitor. Air strikes, and artillery and rocket fire on the last major rebel-held enclave near the capital Damascus have killed hundreds and devastated residential areas since they began on February 18. The latest toll released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights brings to around 760 the number of civilians killed since the assault began, including at least 170 children.

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