Syrian and Russian attacks killed 225, injured 618 in 2021: White Helmets

The Syrian Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets, have documented 225 deaths - half of whom are women and children - as a result of attacks launched by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally in northern Syria this year.

The rescue team recorded 38 women and 65 children dead and 618 injured - including 151 children - as a result of the Russian and Syrian regime attacks, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister publication Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported. 

The attacks violate the ceasefire agreed between Russia, which provides military support to the Assad regime, and Turkey, which backs the Syrian opposition, in March 2020.

The White Helmets say they have responded to over 1,300 Syrian and Russian attacks, where over 7,000 ammunition types have been used.

"Despite the ceasefire agreement... the escalation... rose with systematic attacks on hospitals, vital facilities and Syrian civil defence centres," Munir Al-Mustafa, Deputy Director of the Civil Defense for Humanitarian Affairs, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

63 children killed by Assad & Russia in the span of 6 months. Most were born into Assad's war and never had the chance to leave it. They died with unfulfilled dreams - to live in peace & safety like other children. When does the world say no more? #ChildrenUnderAttack #IAmAChild pic.twitter.com/LqgNC0Drbm

— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) November 20, 2021

"Our teams responded to attacks targeting 169 different cities and towns in northwestern Syria," Al-Mustafa continued.

The majority of attacks the team responded to were in the southern and eastern areas of the Idlib countryside, where clashes between the opposition and regime have broken out.

"These attacks generally targeted civilian homes and agricultural fields, [and] the targeting of schools, hospitals, and vital facilities did not stop either," the deputy director said.

The White Helmets have responded to over 490 attacks on civilian homes, 620 attacks on farmers' fields, four attacks on schools and educational facilities, eight attacks on markets, and four attacks on medical facilities.

Russia has used high-precision weapons, including laser-guided artillery shells named Krasnopol, in most civilian and vital facility artillery attacks, which "confirms bombing is systematic with the aim of inflicting the largest possible number of casualties", Al-Mustafa said.

The Syrian war, which saw President Bashar Al-Assad's regime violently crack down on pro-democracy protestors, resulted in over 500,000 deaths and led to over 6 million Syrian civilians becoming internally displaced.

Russia has backed Assad since the war broke out in 2011 and intervened with military power in September 2015, leading to thousands of civilian deaths.