By Al-Fassel | 2024-09-09

Russian forces ran over a woman in al-Hasakeh province and fired live bullets and tear gas at local residents who were staging a protest as they conducted a military patrol on August 29, local media reported.

The incident in rural al-Qamishli underscores the Russian military's casual disregard for the lives of Syrian civilians -- and of the civilian population in general, as evidenced by Russian conduct during numerous previous conflicts.

In July, local residents blocked roads to prevent the entry of a Russian delegation into the Aleppo province town of al-Bab.

"The Russian presence is utterly unacceptable on account of the Russian crimes committed against civilians, in addition to the continued Russian support of the Syrian regime," local media activist Tariq al-Ahmed told Al-Fassel at the time.

In Syria, Russian forces backing Bashar al-Assad's regime have a track record of violence against civilians, which includes a campaign of air strikes that have killed countless civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure.

Between 2014 and 2022, Russian and regime forces engaged in a "disturbing pattern of deliberate targeting" of displacement camps in Syria, according to a July 2023 report by the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre.

Russian generals serving in Syria have gained a reputation for brutality, as did the mercenary Wagner Group, which was caught on video in 2017 beheading a Syrian and breaking his legs with a sledgehammer.

Lessons from history

Syrians can look at previous examples of Russian and Soviet involvement in foreign wars to understand Russia's pattern of disregard for civilian lives.

During the Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979-1989), an estimated 1 million Afghan civilians were killed. Afghan elders remember the brutal Soviet occupation, and mass graves testify to war crimes committed during that time.

"The Russians targeted and killed educated people, women, men, the elderly, children, religious scholars and students," Abdul Baqi Aslami, who manages the Unknown Martyrs' Graveyard in Herat province told Salaam Times in 2022.

"They killed civilians and animals, and destroyed everything including orchards and farm fields."

Soviet soldiers used the rape of Afghan women as a weapon of war, with 11.8% of Soviet war criminals in Afghanistan convicted for the offense, according to legal historians.

Russian troops committed numerous war crimes during two wars in Chechnya (1994-1996 and 1999-2009), which some say amount to genocide, and are accused of committing war crimes during the 2008 invasion of Georgia.

Russia also is accused of genocide in its ongoing war on Ukraine, and human rights investigators have recorded numerous war crimes against civilians, including murder, torture, rape, looting and forced displacement.