On Wednesday, March 13th 2019, Russian airstrikes on residential areas in Idlib city left 10 civilians dead and 45 injured.
The strikes also hit a civilian prison on the city outskirts, allowing dozens to escape.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed it had conducted airstrikes across Idlib, reportedly targeting drones and weapons stores of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) records casualties (i.e. people killed and injured) from explosive violence around the world as reported in English-language news sources.
In 2018 Syria remained the country worst impacted by explosive violence, despite the numbers of civilian casualties decreasing by a quarter, compared to the previous year (from 13,062 in 2017 to 9,587 last year).
Overall, AOAV recorded 12,012 casualties from 1,224 incidents of explosive violence in Syria in 2018 – of which, civilians accounted for 80% (9,587) of total casualties. Airstrikes were responsible for 53% of all civilian casualties from explosive violence in Syria. Whilst improvised explosive devices (IEDs) accounted for 13% and ground-launched explosives for 14%.
AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. AOAV encourages all armed actors to stop using explosive weapons with wide-area affects where there is likely to be a high concentration of civilians.
For more information on Russian airstrikes in Syria, please read here.
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