Russian Airstrikes in Syria Hurting Civilians More Than ISIS

[uhnope]

Source: TIME

Two months into a bombing campaign in Syria, Russia has caused a lot of collateral damage

One airstrike hit a post office, part of a series of strikes that killed 17 civilians. At least four other attacks targeted hospitals. An airstrike on Sunday hit a marketplace, killing at least 30 people.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria is killing civilians at a high rate in rebel-held areas of the country’s northwest, even as the campaign has failed to produce a decisive shift in the larger civil war between regime of president Bashar Assad and his opponents.

Russia launched a major campaign of airstrikes beginning on September 30 in support of the Assad regime’s fight to maintain and expand the territory it still controls in Syria. The Russian government claims the operation has targeted the extremists of ISIS, but the majority of Russian strikes have actually fallen on areas controlled by mainstream rebel groups opposed to both Assad and ISIS, and often supported by the West. During the month of October, Russian operations resulted in at least 44 individual strikes that killed between 255 and 375 non-combatants at a conservative estimate, according to Airwars, a watchdog group that carefully combs reports of civilian deaths.

Read more: http://time.com/4129222/russia-airstrikes-syria-civilian-casualties-isis/

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Syrian civil defence members search for survivors in the rubble of a building following the Russian airstrikes targeting a market and residential area in Ariha town Idlib, northern Syria on Nov. 29, 2015.

[GGJohn]

1. Now you've went and done it.

Expect a certain member to show up with "proof" from Sputnik News or RT claiming that all Mother Russia is doing is bombing the rebels and that the claim of massive civilian casualties is nothing more than a Pentagon propaganda blitz meant to demean those brave Russian pilots.

[uhnope]

3. a certain

member? there are dozens of them active, pretty much swamping the place.

[GGJohn]

8. Very true. eom.

[840high]

2. Did they hit a hospital?

[uhnope]

5. at least four

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/three-syrian-hospitals-bombed-since-russian-airstrikes-began-doctors-say

[FrodosPet]

13. That must be a lie or mistranslation

Russia is a loving, tolerant, civilized nation, not a macho he-man martial society. Can there be any doubt that they take every possible precaution to avoid hitting innocents?

[Tarheel_Dem]

24. You got your answer. Any response?

[840high]

27. They seem to be doing what USA

has done.

[stevil]

28. Yeah

Exactly the same thing.

[840high]

29. What? We didn't kill innocent people ever?

[Tarheel_Dem]

30. Yeah, but that wasn't your original insinuation. You either didn't know or didn't care that they...

were bombing everything in sight, with absolutely no regard for the civilian death toll. You were hoisted by your own petard, and cant' admit it. Typical.

[leveymg]

4. Particularly oil truck drivers.

How are Russian bombs worse than American or French bombs?

[GGJohn]

7. Who here has said they were? eom.

[leveymg]

9. Read the headline.

[GGJohn]

11. Where in the headline does it say that Russian bombs are worse than American or French bombs?

It says Russian bombing missions are killing more civilians than killing ISIS.

[7962]

10. Maybe because this article doesnt mention any oil trucks?

And if you read the article, it tells you how the Russian bombs are worse.

[leveymg]

14. That's how propaganda works - presents selective truth.

That's why the article doesn't mention oil trucks. I'll ask you again, aside from the fact that the Russians target oil and a wider variety of Jihadists rebel groups how exactly is that worse for civilians?

[GGJohn]

15. Why don't we ask the civilians who are the recipients of those Russian bombs?

I mean the ones that are still alive.

[leveymg]

16. You still haven"t answered the question

[GGJohn]

17. Yes I did.

You asked if Russian bombs were worse than American or French bombs, I answered that no one here has said anything like that.
You then told me to read the headline, and I answered that no where in the headline does it say that Russian bombs are worse then American or French bombs.

[7962]

19. As i said, READ the article and it TELLS you how they're worse. Here:

I guess I have to do EVERYTHING for you!

"By comparison, the group reports that Russian strikes are killing civilians at a rate roughly 10 times faster than the coalition. Airwars project director Chris Woods says that video footage of airstrikes released by the Russian government indicate that Russian warplanes are using more primitive, unguided munitions. One video shows a Russian long-range bomber dropping “sticks” of unguided bombs from above the clouds."

They're also NOT targeting a "wider variety" of targets; they're focusing on the northeast and not ISIS strongholds. With each attack they SAY they're attacking ISIS, but that doesnt make it true. They attack ISIS on a minor scale.
Again, its IN the article

[Cayenne]

12. Or barrel bombs

Not why 'barrel bombs' gets so much attention. If Assad had been using JDAMs would it make things okay?

[joshcryer]

20. Unsurprised by this.

Likely an ISIS guy sitting in the passenger seat, too. With a gun to the head of the driver.

[7962]

6. No surprise; I said this would happen because Russia doesnt care.

Sadly, BEATING the enemy sometimes requires total elimination of their hiding spots

[joshcryer]

21. Unfortunately, Russia likely isn't discriminating.

So it'll get a lot worse before it gets better (ie, everyone and anyone who isn't hiding in the cover of their collapsed buildings, wishing for water or food).

[7962]

22. Yes.

[killbotfactory]

18. Yeah, war fucking sucks.

Maybe we shouldn't have egged on the jihadist "freedom fighters" by funding and arming them.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. exactly. Our drones are doing the same to

noncombatants.

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. What is it you don't understand about "10 times faster than the coalition"?

"By comparison, the group reports that Russian strikes are killing civilians at a rate roughly 10 times faster than the coalition. Airwars project director Chris Woods says that video footage of airstrikes released by the Russian government indicate that Russian warplanes are using more primitive, unguided munitions. One video shows a Russian long-range bomber dropping “sticks” of unguided bombs from above the clouds."