Russian airstrikes in Syria killed 9,300 in past year: human rights monitor

A Syrian opposition monitoring group that tracks Syria’s civil war says a year of Russian airstrikes have killed more than 9,000 people in the war-torn country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Friday said the dead include civilians and fighters, among them rebel groups as well as militants from the Islamic State group and an al-Qaida-linked faction.

On September 30 last year, Russia began an air campaign backing forces of the Syrian President Bashar Assad and turning the balance of power in his favour.

Opposition activists have blamed Russia for the recent air campaign against rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo city that has killed more than 200 civilians in the past two weeks and demolished buildings.

The Observatory says that the airstrikes have killed 9,364 people over the past year.