Russia's lie exposed: airstrike blows up Syrian market

A man carries his son, who was injured in a Russian airstrike on Jisr al-Shugur in Syria, to be transferred to a second hospital. : Fared Al Mahlool/Daily Telegraph

Abu Salim, a farmer from Jisr al-Shughur, was overjoyed at the prospect of selling his crops in the city's market. Russian warplanes then flew in and killed his eldest son along with eight other farmers.

Russia and Syria said the market was attacked on June 25 in a targeted operation against terrorist targets in the war-torn region of Idlib to the north -western Syria.

Now The Telegraph has tracked down survivors of what appears to be the deadliest event of its kind in Syria this year and another war crime committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr. Mr. Salim and other survivors said they were horrified by the «deafening» explosion that disturbed the peace in the Jisr al-Shughur market. There were blinding clouds of dust following the explosion, and then screams as the survivors struggled to understand what had just happened to them.

Mr. Salim, speaking from a ward in a nearby hospital, said the attack was premeditated. trying to «destroy» their community. According to him, the massacre will haunt Salim for the rest of his days.

A worker and his child in the hospital after he was injured in a Russian airstrike on a vegetable market in the city of Jisr al-Shugur. Photo: Fared Al Mahloul/Daily Telegraph

“Suddenly Russian warplanes were bombing us while we were working in the market and my brother was injured and the Syrian Civil Defense came and took my brother to the hospital and he is now being treated,” another survivor told The Telegraph.

“We work here because we are poor and we wait for the season to sell [vegetables] here and live [off them], but unfortunately Russian warplanes are always chasing us and bombing us,” — said another survivor.

At least nine people were killed in the first wave of the massacre, which saw dozens of wounded Syrians scattered across the marketplace among the cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants and watermelons that had been lined up on the farmers' stalls just moments before. .

People are looking for victims of a Russian airstrike on a vegetable market. Photo: Fared al-Mahlul/Daily TelegraphShortly thereafter, Russian planes returned to the same area and fired two more missiles, bringing the death toll to 13.

Survivors spoke of the horrific destruction in the marketplace, where they witnessed a grim juxtaposition of blood of Syrian civilians with the red tint of crushed tomatoes.

The attack, the deadliest of its kind this year, was just one of several launched by the Russian army in Syria as it continues to support Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, in his ongoing civil war against the rebels.

Syria, with a history of war crimes and attacks on civilians, has confirmed that it «collaborated» with the Russian attack.

The Russian flag is projected onto the building of the Opera House in Damascus in honor of Russian Flag Day on Monday. Photo: MAHER AL MOUNES/via Getty Images/AFP

The carnage also reflects the bloody track record of Russian military action in Syria, which went largely unnoticed by the world until Russia began committing similar atrocities in Ukraine after the February 2022 invasion.

Since 2015, when Russian intervention in In Syria, Moscow forces have bombed settlements in northwestern Syria and reduced them to rubble, forcing the survivors to live in camps along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Russian forces launched a new attack on Idlib on Monday, killing eight anti-Assad fighters, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Despite the enormous hardships they have endured, This year, many Syrians have courageously returned to their homes in the Idlib region, striving to cultivate their land and rebuild their lives amidst the challenges of agriculture, harsh weather and adversity.

A mother examines her wounded son after a Russian airstrike on a vegetable market in the city of Jisr al-Shugur. Photo: Fared al-Mahlool/Daily Telegraph

The vegetable market served as a vital hub where hundreds of farmers from the Sahl al-Ghab and Sahl al-Ruj districts converged with their products. Their goal was simple: sell their crops to merchants and return home with provisions and gifts for their families.

Situated in the heart of northwestern Syria, the market was of strategic importance due to its proximity to fertile agricultural plains.< /p>

The Russian attack on the town of Jisr al-Shugur coincided with similar raids in the wider Idlib region, killing two more people and causing varying degrees of injury, field activist Musab al-Yassin confirmed.

A coordinated Russian- a Syrian attack on the city of Idlib itself, the capital of the region, also caused casualties and injuries, and the village of Benin, located in the south of the region, was the victim of a similar aggression.

Russian forces in Syria stationed at the Khmeimim military base, including the infamous Wagner mercenary group, have stepped up operations in northwestern Syria this year. It is suspected that the Russian strikes are deliberately targeting wheat fields and other agricultural land to starve the local population and force them to accept sporadic aid delivered by their enemy: the Syrian regime.

With the death toll from the country's civil war With more than half a million people, there is little sign of Assad's removal from power despite the conflict raging around him. Other states of the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and Jordan, sought to return it to the fold of the Arab world and normalize relations in accordance with their economic interests.

According to local activists, during the ten years of war, Russia was able to operate with impunity, along with the Iranian regime, the Assad regime, Hezbollah militias and other groups.

Remains of an open market after the attack Photo: Fared Al Mahloul/Daily Telegraph

Referring to the attack on the market, Samer Al-Ali, a local humanitarian activist, said that Russia appeared to «have an international license to killing Syrian civilians.”

Northwestern Syria was also hit by a catastrophic earthquake in February that killed tens of thousands there and in neighboring Turkey. Aid supplies to the crisis-hit region have been slow or non-existent.

The combination of trauma from natural disasters and horrendous warfare has left Syrians in the northwest vulnerable and trapped.

“ What are we are we doing?» one of the survivors of the attack on the market asked in desperation. «Everywhere we go, Russian and Syrian warplanes bomb us.»