Assad Regime Jet Downed By Syrian Opposition In Northern Hama

18 January 2018

EsinIslam And Agencies

Syrian opposition fighters on Tuesday downed an Assad regime warplane in the eastern countryside of Hama province.

According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent in the nearby Idlib province, Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces in Idlib managed to strike the warplane while it was conducting airstrikes in Hama's eastern countryside and on Idlib's southern outskirts.

'A regime L-39 warplane was hit near the villages of Abu Dali and Al-Qaryatayn by antiaircraft batteries,' Mustafa al-Hussein, a spokesman for the FSA-affiliated Free Idlib Army, told Anadolu Agency.

Al-Hussein added that regime warplanes have been carrying out attacks in the same region for the last several days, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, the Assad regime army confirmed the incident.

Photos of the warplane's captured pilot -- the authenticity of which has yet to be confirmed -- have since been circulated on social-media platforms.

The western central province has seen intense aerial strikes by the Russian and regime air forces in the country's civil war. Dozens of civilians have been killed in the bombing of towns away from front lines in the last few weeks, according to rescue workers and witnesses.

5,783 Civilians Killed iIn Syria In Few Months, NGO says

A total of 5,783 civilians were killed in Syria, mainly by the Russian forces, over the last two years, according to a report released by Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) on Saturday.

The report said 1,596 children and 992 women were among those killed between Sept. 30, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2017.

It said nearly 2.3 million individuals were displaced as a direct result of the Russian offensives along with their allies.

At least 294 'massacres' were committed by the Russian forces, while 141 attacks targeted the medical facilities, leaving at least 53 medical personnel dead, according to the report.

Russian forces used cluster munitions in nearly 217 attacks.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to U.N. officials.

Russia Responsible For Assad Regime Chemical Weapons Use, US says

The Assad regime may still be using chemical weapons after a suspected chlorine attack in the rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta, the United States said on Tuesday, adding that Russia ultimately bore responsibility.

'Only yesterday more than 20 civilians, mostly children, were victims of an apparent chlorine gas attack,' U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after a conference on chemical weapons in Paris. 'The recent attacks in East Ghouta raise serious concerns that Bashar al-Assad may be continuing to use chemical weapons against hiss own people.'

Tillerson added that whoever conducted the attacks, 'Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in eastern Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria'.

The United States and 28 other countries are launching a new plan to better identify and punish anyone who uses chemical weapons, amid new reports of a suspected chemical attack in Syria.

The initiative was announced Tuesday in Paris, where Tillerson met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and diplomats from the other signatory countries.

The group plans to publish information about chemical attacks to name and shame perpetrators and eventually sanction them. U.N. efforts to punish perpetrators in Syria have failed, repeatedly blocked by Assad ally Russia.

Activists and rescue teams said the Assad regime launched an attack Monday with suspected poisonous gas that affected nearly 20 civilians in a rebel-held suburb near Damascus. The regime denies using chemical weapons.

©  EsinIslam.Com

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