The Hass refugee camp bombing was an

aerial bombardment An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offici ...

of a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

in the

Syrian opposition The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian gover ...

-held town of

Hass Hass may refer to: * Hass (Ottoman) * Hass (surname) * Hass (town), a town in Syria * Hass avocado, a type of avocado named after its cultivator, Rudolph Hass * Hass Petroleum, an investment company * Humanities, arts, and social sciences * Home ...

in the

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة ادلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, which has been deemed a war crime by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

. It was perpetrated on 16 August 2019, at 7:25 p.m. local time, during the Syrian Civil War. The bombing killed 20

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

s, including a pregnant woman, and injured another 52 people. The refugee camp was located outside the town, eight miles from the nearest front line, and there were no military targets nearby. Later analysis confirmed that the bombing was perpetrated by a bomber jet of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Two Russian

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 ( NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin-engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It wa ...

war planes departed the

Khmeimim Air Base Khmeimim Air Base (Russian: Хмеймим), also Hmeimim Air Base, is a Syrian airbase currently operated by Russia, located south-east of the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate, Syria. The airbase shares some airfield faciliti ...

on that day, at 7:02 p.m., and were then circling the area. No Syrian war planes were recorded over the area at the time of the bombardment. The two bombs dropped on the refugee camp were identified as OFAB-100-120 and KAB-500. The blast collapsed a row of buildings around the courtyard of the camp. It was part of a wider Syrian military campaign against Idlib in 2019.

released a statement saying that "under

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

, deliberate or reckless attacks against civilians and civilian objects committed with criminal intent are war crimes".

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

condemned the

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

on the refugee camp and called for the cessation of hostilities. The

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

recorded the crime in its report published on 2 March 2020. It stated the following:

References

Reports

*{{cite web, title=Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic — Forty-third session, year=2020, date=2 March 2020, url=https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/A_HRC_43_57_AEV.docx, last=

, access-date=3 March 2020 2019 airstrikes 2019 murders in Syria 21st-century mass murder in Syria Airstrikes conducted by Russia August 2019 crimes in Asia Explosions in 2019 Explosions in Syria Idlib Governorate in the Syrian civil war Mass murder in 2019 Massacres of the Syrian civil war in 2019 Military operations of the Syrian civil war in 2019 Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving Russia Russian war crimes in Syria

See also

References

Reports