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‘Syrian air strikes killed more than 100 civilians in past 10 days’, says UN chief

Bachelet said that the deaths were part of a “relentless campaign of airstrikes by the government and its allies”, which include Russia. More than 400,000 people have been displaced”.

‘Syrian air strikes killed more than 100 civilians in past 10 days’, says UN chief

Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights speaks at the at the Human Rights Council session (Photo: IANS)

UN’s human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Friday that more than 100 people, including 26 children were killed in government attacks on hospitals, schools, markets and bakeries in Syria.

Bachelet said that the deaths were part of a “relentless campaign of airstrikes by the government and its allies”, which include Russia. More than 400,000 people have been displaced”.

She further said, “These are civilian objects, and it seems highly unlikely, given the persistent pattern of such attacks, that they are all being hit by accident”. (sic)

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The targets of the attacks were “civilian objects, and it seems highly unlikely, given the persistent pattern of such attacks, that they are all being hit by accident,” she said in a statement.

The government began its offensive against the rebel enclave in northwest Syria, the last area of active insurgent opposition to President Bashar al-Assad at the end of April, saying it was responding to violations of a truce.

Bachelet also warned those carrying out the attacks could be charged with war crimes. “Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes and those who have ordered them or carried them out are criminally responsible for their actions.”

Earlier in the month, Michelle Bachelet issued a report and accused the Venezuela government of using a strategy of instilling fear in its population to retain power and removing opponents with a “shocking” number of alleged extrajudicial killings.

“The killings were part of a strategy by the government of President Nicolas Maduro aimed at “neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing political opponents and people critical of the government”, which accelerated since 2016,” the report said.

However, Venezuela’s government slammed the report as “distorted and biased”, the BBC reported.

Last week, the UN said more than 350 civilians had been killed and 330,000 forced to flee their homes since fighting escalated on April 29.

The Syrian government backed by the Russian Air Force said that the increase in attacks was due to what they said were repeated truce violations by jihadists linked to Al Qaeda who dominate the opposition stronghold.

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