The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

July 2021 | Nearly 35 ISIS members killed and injured in over 800 airstrikes by Russian jets on Syrian desert

The Russian forces completed their 70th month of military operations in Syria. In the tenth month of the 6th year of Russia’s intervention in Syria, SOHR activists documented no civilian deaths by Russian airstrikes

During the 70th month of Russia’s military operations in Syria, SOHR activists documented the death of 16 ISIS members and injury of 19 others in more than 800 Russian airstrikes on their positions in the Syrian desert, mostly killed in al-Raqqah desert, Deir Ezzor, Homs and Aleppo-Hama-al-Raqqah triangle.

Between the 30th  of September 2015 and the 30th of July 2021, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 20,825 persons. The breakdown of fatalities is as follows:

  • 8,667 civilians: 2,099 children under the age of eighteen, 1,318 females over the age of eighteen, 5,250 men and young people

  • 5,948 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.