Russian strikes killed 2,371 Syrians, 1/3 civilians in 3 months

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Wednesday that Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed 2,371 Syrians, including 792 civilians, since 30 September, Almesryoon.com reported.

According to the Observatory, 180 children and 116 women were among the civilians killed.

The Observatory said that only 655 fighters killed were Daesh militants, adding that 924 fighters were from groups considered to be moderate.

Moscow has been supposedly targeting Daesh fighters since the end of September but some countries including the US accuse it of targeting moderate and Western- backed groups. Russia has denied the accusations.

Last Wednesday, Amnesty International accused Moscow of killing “hundreds of civilians” and causing “much havoc” in Syria due to its airstrikes which could amount to a “war crime”.

Read: More than 21,000 killed in Syria during 2015

The human rights group reiterated that it had documented Russia using cluster bombs and unguided missiles in heavily populated areas in Syria. The Russian defence ministry called the report “baseless” and “false”.

Russia has backed embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s civil war. The on-going fighting has so far resulted in the killing of more than 250,000 Syrians, wide-scale destruction and the displacement of half of Syria’s population.