Human Rights Watch has denounced the Assad regime for the “indiscriminate nature” of airstrikes on opposition-held parts of Aleppo since November 2013.
HRW’s report is based on satellite imagery, videos, and eyewitness accounts, with claims that at least 2,401 civilians were killed in Aleppo Province between November 1, 2013, and March 21, 2014.
The organization used the images to identify at least 340 distinct sites in Aleppo city that were damaged between early November and February 20. It said the majority have “damage signatures that are strongly consistent with the detonation of barrel bombs”
The damage sites were widely distributed across almost all opposition-held neighborhoods, with a majority falling in built-up residential areas far from the frontline. In most cases, witnesses said there were no military targets nearby.
According to the Violations Documentation Center, at least 266 airstrikes were carried out on Aleppo and the nearby countryside between November 1, 2013, and January 31, 2014, killing at least 1,380 civilians, including 441 children, 78 women, and 14 combatants.
The organization recorded 2,321 fatalities from airstrikes in the same region between November 1 and March 21. Based on interviews with doctors and hospitals, VDC estimates that more than 20,000 people were wounded as a result of the attacks.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that the attacks killed 2,426 people, including 2,401 civilians, between November 23, 2013, and February 24, 2014.
A Syrian relief coordinator in the Turkish border town of Kilis said approximately 5,000 to 6,000 families from Aleppo had sought refuge in the area since the air offensive intensified in November 2013.