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[h=1]Russia/Syria: Extensive Recent Use of Cluster Munitions[/h]
(New York) – The military offensive that the Russian and Syrian government forces opened against armed groups opposed to the government on September 30, 2015, has included extensive use of cluster munitions – inherently indiscriminate and internationally banned weapons.
The use violates United Nations resolution 2139 of February 22, 2014, which demanded that all parties involved in Syria end “indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas,” Human Rights Watch said. It also contradicts a statement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on November 9, 2015, in which it insisted that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces do not and will not use indiscriminate weapons.
“Syria’s promises on indiscriminate weapons ring hollow when cluster munitions keep hitting civilians in many parts of the country,” said Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director. “The UN Security Council should get serious about its commitment to protect Syria’s civilians by publicly demanding that all sides stop the use of cluster munitions.”
Human Rights Watch documented that cluster munitions were used on at least 20 occasions since Syria and Russia began their joint offensive on September 30. Human Rights Watch collected detailed information about attacks in nine locations that have killed at least 35 civilians, including five women and 17 children, and injured dozens. Two attacks hit camps for the displaced. For the other attacks, Human Rights Watch obtained visual confirmation of the cluster munition used and a second source confirmed the attack. The cluster munitions used in Syria recently that Human Rights Watch was able to confirm were manufactured in the former Soviet Union or Russia.
On the same day that Syrian authorities promised to not use indiscriminate weapons, cluster munitions fell on a camp for internally displaced people in Younseyeh, a village in Idlib province, near the Turkish border. Hospital staff reported that the attack killed seven civilians and injured dozens.“All of a sudden we heard rockets whistling and explosions all around us,” a visitor to the camp told Human Rights Watch. “I just looked around me in shock and couldn’t feel anything. I had to grab my arm because it was broken and swinging widely.”
[...]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/20/russia/syria-extensive-recent-use-cluster-munitions
(New York) – The military offensive that the Russian and Syrian government forces opened against armed groups opposed to the government on September 30, 2015, has included extensive use of cluster munitions – inherently indiscriminate and internationally banned weapons.
The use violates United Nations resolution 2139 of February 22, 2014, which demanded that all parties involved in Syria end “indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas,” Human Rights Watch said. It also contradicts a statement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on November 9, 2015, in which it insisted that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces do not and will not use indiscriminate weapons.
“Syria’s promises on indiscriminate weapons ring hollow when cluster munitions keep hitting civilians in many parts of the country,” said Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director. “The UN Security Council should get serious about its commitment to protect Syria’s civilians by publicly demanding that all sides stop the use of cluster munitions.”
Human Rights Watch documented that cluster munitions were used on at least 20 occasions since Syria and Russia began their joint offensive on September 30. Human Rights Watch collected detailed information about attacks in nine locations that have killed at least 35 civilians, including five women and 17 children, and injured dozens. Two attacks hit camps for the displaced. For the other attacks, Human Rights Watch obtained visual confirmation of the cluster munition used and a second source confirmed the attack. The cluster munitions used in Syria recently that Human Rights Watch was able to confirm were manufactured in the former Soviet Union or Russia.
On the same day that Syrian authorities promised to not use indiscriminate weapons, cluster munitions fell on a camp for internally displaced people in Younseyeh, a village in Idlib province, near the Turkish border. Hospital staff reported that the attack killed seven civilians and injured dozens.“All of a sudden we heard rockets whistling and explosions all around us,” a visitor to the camp told Human Rights Watch. “I just looked around me in shock and couldn’t feel anything. I had to grab my arm because it was broken and swinging widely.”
[...]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/20/russia/syria-extensive-recent-use-cluster-munitions
