Russian Airstrike Kills 12 Children at School in Syria, Watchdog Group Says
At least 12 children were killed Monday after a Russian airstrike hit a school outside of Aleppo, Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.
The children, along with three adults, were killed at a school located in the city of Ain Jara. SOHR told Al Jazeera on Monday that the death toll from the strike is likely to rise, as some of the injured are being treated for their life-threatening injuries at a local hospital.
Izaddin Salman, an activist in Syria, told ARA News that "the airstrike has killed nine children and injured more than 25 others.
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"Most of the wounded are children, beside some six teachers and a school supervisor," Salman continued, adding, "Some of the wounded are in critical condition, and the medical center in the town suffers a sharp shortage of medicines and equipment. The death toll may increase."
The Russian government, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has received criticism for its airstrikes in Syria, with some accusing the Kremlin of raising the civilian death toll.
SOHR has also reported that a third of those killed in Russian airstrikes have been civilians, and the Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group, has also accused Russia of killing innocent civilians.
"Nearly 94 percent of the 12,000 sorties the Russian air force has so far flown in Syria targeted civilians and the Free Syrian Army," the Syrian National Coalition said in a recent statement, as reported by Al Jazeera News.
Russia has denied such claims that its airstrikes target civilians, with Russia's defense ministry calling the claims "absurd."
"All of these anonymous and unsubstantiated statements about the alleged use of Russian aircraft on civilian targets in Syria is increasingly reminiscent of hypnotists' acts in traveling circuses," the defense ministry shot back last December.
The U.S. has also criticized Russia, arguing that its airstrikes in the Middle Eastern country have killed "hundreds."
Russia continues to maintain that its airstrikes are targeting members of the Islamic State terror group, but an anonymous U.S. official told The Guardian that the U.S. is "not convinced of what the Russian intentions are."
The official went on to add that following public condemnation, Russia seems to have ramped up its efforts to target IS strongholds.
"For a while, very few strikes were going against [IS] and after a lot of public condemnation they turned a number of strikes against [IS]," the official said.
