Russia pounds Aleppo with 2,328 rockets in past month

Moscow's air force targeted Syria's regime-held second city as the ceasefire deal was slowly agreed.

2 min read

01 March, 2016

Russian airstrikes have forced thousands of Syrians to flee to refugee camps [Getty]

Russia has pounded Aleppo with 2,328 rockets in the last month, a new report suggests.

The Russian Air Force has bombed numerous areas in and around Syria's rebel-held second city in the past month as a ceasefire deal was slowly worked towards.

Aleppo was also the site of 213 internationally banned cluster bombs, three phosphorus bombs and five long-range missiles to target militants, according to documents released by the Syrian Institute of Justice.

The report suggests the missiles hit an estimated 1,000 residential areas and 700 military sites, killing 390 people including 53 women and 103 children.

Russia has carried out intensive bombing raids on rebel-held territories since Moscow intervened in the Syria war in September.

As many as 27 medical facilities are thought to have been destroyed by Russia since the start of its military bombardment in Syria, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Russia's strategy "has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands from the outskirts of Aleppo to the borders of the country amid severe cold," said Fadel Abdul Ghani, director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

"It has placed immense pressure on the Turkish government. We completely object to Russia being part of the political process on one hand while it commits atrocities on the other."

Russia has been criticised for its continuous bombardment of Syria - and some operations could be investigated as potential war crimes, according to UN officials.