U.N labels Syrian, Russian airstrikes war crimes

The United Nations has been providing evidence Tuesday (July 7) that deadly aerial strikes carried out by Syrian and Russian planes in the province of Idlib amounted to war crimes.

They took place between November 2019 and June this year.

The U.N. report also condemned attacks by Islamist militants.

It said "indiscriminate bombardment" by pro-government forces, which took place ahead of a March ceasefire brokered with Turkey, claimed hundreds of lives and forced a million civilians to flee, which may amount to a crime against humanity.

There was also a damning account of Jihadist groups in northwestern Syria, accused of firing artillery into civilian areas quote "with no apparent legitimate military objective."

Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. panel said, quote, "All sides likely committed war crimes."

"Children were shelled at school, parents were shelled at the market, patients were shelled at the hospital. Entire families were bombarded, even while fleeing these attacks."

Russia’s most notable involvements are reported to have been deadly airstrikes in January and March, when its warplanes were solely responsible for attacks on a hospital and farm.

Russia denies involvement in the latter attack.

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied many previous U.N. accusations of war crimes.