A leading Syrian human rights monitor has called on Russia to extradite former president Bashar al-Assad and issue a formal apology for supporting his regime.
In a statement on the tenth anniversary of Russia’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, the Syrian Network for Human Rights urged Moscow to pay compensation to the victims of its military action against opposition groups.
Russia was among the Assad regime’s main foreign backers and made a decisive intervention in the Syrian war in 2015, which enabled its forces to retake key cities such as Aleppo and Daraa.
Almost 7,000 civilians were killed by Russian forces during their nine-year involvement in the conflict, according to data collected by the organisation.
The dead include more than 2,000 children and 984 women.