New Delhi: Numerous reports claim that Russian warplanes are dropping prohibited white phosphorus on civilians in northwest Syria in an intensification of war against Islamic State.
Use of White Phosphorous is in civilian areas is banned under the Geneva Convention as the substance is highly inflammable.
Shocking images showing the sky allegedly filled with the potentially deadly weapon, as it rains down on the de-facto capital of ISIS, Raqqa, are doing rounds on social media.
It can cause death in three ways: by burn through flesh and bones, by being inhaled as a smoke and by being ingested.
The incendiary weapon is also used by armies to illuminate targets during the night or as a smokescreen during daylight hours.
Airstrikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed at least 18 civilians and wounded dozens more on Sunday in a northern Syrian town held by insurgents, the daily mail quoted Syrian opposition media.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that 1,502 people have been killed in Russian airstrikes in Syria. Opposition rebels and al-Qaeda militants account for 40 per cent of the casualties, closely followed by civilians, who make up 32 per cent of the deaths in Russian strikes.
But while Raqqa may be an ISIS stronghold, activists on the ground claim that civilians were caught up in airstrike, which was described as a ‘war crime'.
On November 13, witnesses in the opposition-controlled northwest Syrian city of Idlib, told The Times that dozens of civilians suffered ‘horrific injuries' following two phosphorous attacks.
‘We knew it was phosphorous because the entire sky lit up and when it settled it set everything on fire,' said Ahmed, an activist based in Idlib.
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History
White phosphorus has been used since World War I both as an incendiary agent and for creating smoke screens or smoke signals. Munitions containing white phosphorus were used extensively in World War II , the Vietnam War, and the Korea War, including as an anti-personnel weapon.
Instances of recent use
White Phosphrous was used by Saddam Hussain in Iraq during the Halabja poison gas attack. According to an undated ANSA article quoted by an RAI documentary, on the morning of March 16, 1988, the Iraqi Air Force bombed Halabja several times with a chemical cocktail of yperite, tabun, VX, napalm and white phosphorus
In 2004, US forces used artillery shells loaded with WP in Fallujah, Iraq, to target insurgents in so-called ‘shake and bake' fire missions.
Israeli forces used weapons containing white phosphorus in Lebanon in 2006, and in Gaza in 2008/2009.Mortar shells containing white phosphorus have allegedly also been fired from Gaza into Israeli territory on several occasions.
U.S. and other international forces in Afghanistan have reportedly used WP munitions. Human Rights Watch documented an incident on 14 March 2009, in which an 8-year-old girl in Kapisa province was burned by white phosphorus munitions. The US, in turn, have accused Afghan militants of using WP as a weapon in attacks on US forces and in civilian areas.
