The Washington Post published a report by the Syrian Center for Justice and Accountability (a US-based human rights group) stating that the Russian and Syrian governments have carried out dozens of "double" strikes on civilians and humanitarian workers in Syria since 2013, pointing to a pattern of Unlawful attacks appear to have continued in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The report, published on Thursday, identifies 58 double attacks targeting residential areas outside government-controlled territory between 2013 and 2021. In such attacks, Russia and Syria bombed or launched a raid on a place where medics and civilians gathered to help victims of the initial strike.
The report claimed that Syrian and Russian forces carried out the strikes as "part of a larger strategy to punish the opposition and retake territory" in Syria's more than decade-long war.
“The dual airstrikes represent a policy of shock and terror for the Syrian government that aims to ruthlessly suppress opposition sentiments and intimidate civilians,” Muhammad al-Abdullah, executive director of the Syrian Center for Justice and Accountability, said in a press release, adding that the attacks amounted to war crimes.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces began carrying out double strikes in the early years of the war, attacks intensified after Russia formally entered the conflict in 2015, and laser-guided weapons, such as the Russian-made Krasnopol, caused widespread devastation.
The newspaper reported that researchers used open source intelligence, including videos and satellite imagery, to verify each strike.
Many of the documented strikes took place in Idlib, the rebel-held province in northwestern Syria, and Rural Damascus, an area that includes the capital, Damascus, and has seen fierce fighting for years.
According to the report, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces began carrying out double strikes in the early years of the war, and attacks intensified after Russia officially entered the conflict in 2015, and laser-guided weapons, such as the Russian-made Krasnopol, caused widespread destruction.
According to reports by international investigators and journalists on the ground, Russia used this tactic that was tried in Syria in its war in Ukraine. In the March attack in Kharkiv, a Russian missile hit a regional administration building and the second strike occurred a few minutes after rescuers arrived, according to an April report. Nissan issued by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The newspaper pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine breathed new life into the field of international law and efforts to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
This is what Nesma Bashi, the lead author of the Center for Justice and Accountability report, relies on, that "this matter draws more attention to the importance of accountability efforts in all areas."
"Certainly we know that there are certain individuals from the Russian military who participated in Syria and are now key players in Ukraine. If it comes to holding these people accountable for the crimes they commit in Ukraine, we will consider that a victory for the Syrians," she said.