Dear Russian friends,
Moscow is apparently again using incendiary weapons against civilian areas, according to the Syrian opposition delegation to the UN talks:
HNC Letter to Ban Ki-Moon
UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION
H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Secretary-General
New York
23 June 2016
Your Excellency,
It is with great concern that I report to you, in your capacity as the depositary for the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), regarding a dangerous escalation in the illegal use of air-delivered incendiary weapons by Russian forces against civilian objects and in areas with a strong concentration of civilians across Syria, including most recently in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo.
Article 2 of Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons prohibits parties in all circumstances from “making the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects the object of attack by incendiary weapons.” Protocol III of the CCW also prohibits parties from making a “military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons.” Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2254 (2015) prohibit parties from deploying indiscriminate weapons in populated areas or engaging in methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.
Since the start of its intervention in Syria, Russian air forces have repeatedly deployed incendiary weapons and cluster munitions to kill, main and terrorize Syrian civilians, including in at least 10 documented incidents as described in Annex I. Recent incendiary aerial attacks by Russian forces have been documented in Aleppo, including in DaratAzza, Anadan, Ein Jara, Kafr Hamrah and Haritan. Recent video footage taken in Aleppo shows incendiary weapons likely to be thermite mounted in a Russian Su-34 fighter-ground attack aircraft. Thermite, which ignites while falling, has been likened to ‘mini nuclear bombs’ and was deployed repeatedly by Russian forces in residential areas.
Incendiary weapons rank among the world’s most powerful explosives and are known to have devastating effects on civilians. They cause immensely painful burns and prompt fires that are hard to extinguish. Yet Russian forces have systematically and deliberately used such weapons to kill innocent civilians, including women and children. In so doing, they have violated the CCW and breached international humanitarian law.
Your Excellency, as the depositary for the Convention on Conventional Weapons, we urge you to:
(i) Launch an investigation into the use of incendiary aerial weapons by Russia in Syria;
(ii) Demand the protection of Syrian civilians from the use incendiary aerial weapons in Syria;
(iii) Call on Member States to impose consequences for repeated breaches on international humanitarian law by Russian and Syrian forces.
Your Excellency, the failure to impose consequences for the Syrian regime and Russia’s repeated breaches of international humanitarian law has allowed the Syrian crisis to worsen—costing Syrian lives, encouraging a global refugee crisis, and giving new life to extremist terrorist groups. The whole world is less safe because the world has failed to act on our people’s behalf. Syrian civilians need protection. We rely on you to demand it.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Dr. Riyad Hijab
General Coordinator, High Negotiations Committee
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