On Monday, October 23rd 2017, an airstrike on Qusur, a regime-held district in Deir Ezzor city, Syria, killed at least 14 and injured 32.
The regime blamed the US-led coalition forces for the airstrikes. However, a coalition spokesman denied the allegation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that it was unknown which aircraft carried out the strike. It also recorded a higher death toll of 22.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) records the harm caused by explosive violence across the globe according to English-language media sources. Syria has consistently been a hot spot for explosive violence highlighted by the explosive violence monitor.
Between 2011-2016, Syria saw at least 51,875 reported deaths and injuries from explosive violence. Of these, 86% (44,614) were civilians. Last year, AOAV recorded 13,313 civilian deaths and injuries from explosive violence. 48% were caused by air-launched weapons.
The impact of airstrikes has been increasingly devastating to civilians in Syria. In the first half of 2017, AOAV recorded an 82% increase in civilian deaths from explosive weapons – predominantly from airstrikes.
AOAV calls on states to recognise the civilian impact of explosive weapons with wide-area impacts, and to stop using such weapons in populated areas. AOAV data has consistently shown that when explosive weapons are used in populated areas, over 90% of the casualties are likely to be civilians.
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