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Russia just made an outrageous claim about its bombing campaign in Syria

Mar 17, 2016, 01:29 IST

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After the surprise announcement that Russia will withdraw its forces from Syria, Russian Colonel General Viktor Bondarev claimed that "not a single bombing raid missed the target."

Russia's bombing campaign, which started on September 30, 2015, was originally intended in targeting ISIS, but it soon became clear that the bulk of their airstrikes were on rebel-held territories in Syria.

Throughout the campaign, Russia's own Ministry of Defense footage has shown their bombers releasing "dumb bombs" or non-guided munitions.

This is in stark contrast to the US-led collation's bombing campaign, which exclusively uses guided munitions to minimize collateral damage to civilian populations.

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Worse that simply using unguided munitions, which can simply be blown off target by strong winds, Russia has been accused of using internationally banned in mostly civilian areas. They have also been linked to bombings of hospitals.

In fact, Russia's airstrikes on civilians have been so prolific that NATO Commander Philip Breedlove posited that terrorizing civilian-rich areas is actually an intentional tactic by Russia to exacerbate and even "weaponize" the Syrian refugee crisis against Europe.

A civil defence member gathers unexploded cluster bombs that activists say were fired by the Russian air force at Maasran town, in the south of Idlib province, Syria October 7, 2015.REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Simply put, the only way that Russia could have hit 100% of their targets in Syria, would be if their target was the ground.

Even so, many of the bombs, and bomblets from cluster munitions, did not detonate upon hitting the ground, and will pose a threat to the Syrian people long after the bombing campaign has ended.

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NOW WATCH: Russia has bombed more than 600 Syrian targets in the past few days

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