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Reports on Civilian Deaths in Airstrikes in Syria 'Provocation' - Lawmaker

© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / Go to the mediabankRussian air force strike the Islamic State in Syria
Russian air force strike the Islamic State in Syria - Sputnik International
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The chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee on Defense and Security said Wednesday that reports by a rights group that accuse Russia of killing civilians in its anti-terror airstrikes are a "provocation."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Amnesty International released a statement, saying that the airstrikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria against the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh in Arabic) extremist group had caused casualties among civilians and destroyed or damaged several civilian facilities.

"This is yet another provocation [from] someone who does not like the way we counter terrorism in Syria," Viktor Ozerov told RIA Novosti.

Ozerov said that the Russian Armed Forces allows their activities in Syria to be monitored by any country that wants to do so, which makes refuting the accusations from the watchdog easy.

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He added that if the Russian aircraft had attacked civilian locations then the entire international community would speak up about such airstrikes, condemning Russia not in a report, but in the UN Security Council.

Russia launched airstrikes on Daesh targets in Syria, following a request from President Bashar Assad, in September. Daesh is outlawed as a terrorist group in Russia and many other countries.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, all Russian airstrikes on IS targets in Syria are carried out only after preliminary air surveillance information and intelligence provided by the Syrian military have been verified.

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