The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

March 2021 | Russian jets execute 1,400 airstrikes on Syrian desert, killing over 55 ISIS members

The Russian forces completed their 66th month of military operations in Syria. In the sixth month of the 6th year of Russia’s intervention in Syria, SOHR activists documented no civilian deaths by Russian airstrikes.

During the 66th month of Russia’s military operations in Syria, SOHR activists documented the death of 57 ISIS members and the injury of 25 others due to over 1,380 Russian airstrikes on their positions in the Syrian desert, mostly were killed in Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah triangle.

Between the 30th of September 2015 and the 30th of March 2021, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 20,694 persons. The breakdown of fatalities is as follows:

  • 8,661 civilians: 2,098 children under the age of eighteen, 1,317 females over the age of eighteen, 5,246 men and young people
  • 5,823 ISIS members
  • 6,210 fighters of rebel and Islamic Factions, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamic Turkestani Party, and fighters of Arab and foreign nationalities.

SOHR sources have reported that Russia used the “Thermite-type explosives” in their airstrikes, a substance composed of aluminium powder and iron oxide which causes burns as it continues to ignite for about 180 seconds; some of the bombs used by Russian jets on the Syrian territory were loaded with this substance.

It has been discovered that they are “RBK-500 ZAB 2.5 SM” cluster incendiary bombs each weighed about 500 kg (about 1100 pounds) and they were dropped by military aircraft. They carried anti-individuals and anti-vehicles small sized bombs of the type (AO 2.5 RTM), loaded with 50 to 110 small-sized bombs stuffed with “Thermite”, which outpour out of it when they explode; the range of this anti-individuals and anti-vehicles bombs reaches 20 to 30 meters.