Syrian and Russian forces besieged multiple cities in Syria to starve them into submission, effectively holding civilians hostage as forces moved in on rebel fighters. ![]() Russian troops have promised escapes and then attacked civilians on the roads.īelow is an examination of five key elements of the “Syria playbook”, looking at how the tactics from one war have been imported to devastating effect into another. While Syrians were distant, anonymous victims to most in Russia, the people of Mariupol include relatives, classmates and former colleagues.īut over the past month, the targets have been the same: hospitals, schools, markets, bread queues, a theatre. Some observers predicted Putin would not import the tactics of Syria to Ukraine because close ties of family and friendship straddle the border. And when Russia and the Syrian army promised exit routes, they sometimes bombed and shot the civilians trying to flee.Ġ0:57 Aftermath of 2016 Russian missile attack on Syrian field hospital – video Its planes helped enforce Syrian sieges on the ground, reducing people to desperate skeletal bodies. In the process, entire cities have been devastated and up to 24,743 civilians allegedly killed by Russian strikes, according to the civilian harm monitor Airwars.įrom the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, to the great cultural and economic powerhouse of Aleppo, Russian bombs hit hospitals, schools, markets and queues of people waiting for bread. Since then it has carried out a brutal but ultimately successful campaign – helping Assad seize back nearly all of the country from rebel hands. The tactics, and even some of Russia’s soldiers, have come direct from the civil war in Syria – which Moscow joined in 2015 to support President Bashar al-Assad. ![]() 01:06 Aftermath of Russian missile attack on Mariupol maternity hospital – videoĪs Russian strikes reduce Ukrainian cities to ruin – killing, injuring and terrorising thousands of civilians – comparisons have been made with the second world war, but there was a much more recent precedent.
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