All parties of the conflict in Syria are responsible for civilian casualties including US-backed groups, the State Department's annual report on human rights said on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2020) All parties of the conflict in Syria are responsible for civilian casualties including US-backed groups, the State Department's annual report on human rights said on Wednesday.
"Elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Syrian Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and other minorities that included members of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), reportedly engaged in acts of corruption, unlawful restriction of the movement of persons, and arbitrary arrest of civilians, as well as attacks resulting in civilian casualties," the report said.
The report also attributes civilian deaths to paramilitary and armed terrorist groups operating in Syria.
In addition, the State Department accused Russia and the Syrian government of being responsible for scores of civilian casualties in Idlib and targeting infrastructure.
Russia, which is a guarantor of the Syrian ceasefire and also assists Damascus in facilitating the return of refugees, has repeatedly stressed that its forces never attack residential areas. The Russian military has said that it only targets terrorist strongholds in Syria, military hardware and arms depots, with all terrorist targets to be first identified by unmanned aerial vehicles and confirmed as such via other channels.
