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Jeremy Corbyn's spokesperson is reported to have said that protesting about the Assad regime and Russia's actions in Syria dectracts attention from atrocities committed by the US,
On Wednesday Guardian journalist Heather Stewart tweeted:
Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman tells us there is as much reason to protest outside the American embassy, as the Russian, over Syria attacks.— Heather Stewart (@Heather Stewart) 1476274616
"People are free to protest outside the intervening governments' embassies, and there are a number of them", says Corbyn's spox, on Syria.— Heather Stewart (@Heather Stewart) 1476274726
"The focus on Russian atrocities in Syria sometimes distracts attention from other atrocities that are taking place", says Corbyn's spox.— Heather Stewart (@Heather Stewart) 1476274922
Brendan Cox, husband of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox criticised the spokesperson, as did many others who found the sentiments distasteful:
@GuardianHeather disgraceful— Brendan Cox (@Brendan Cox) 1476276523
@itxasdo @GuardianHeather it's very simple: he can only see value in critiquing the West and will use any opportunity to focus on USA.— George (@George) 1476277823
Criticism of Russia’s involvement in Aleppo intensified this week. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson called on people to protest outside the Russian embassy following reports of pro- Assad forces and Russian warplanes levelling the M10 hospital, leaving a ‘bloodbath’ in its wake.
The house will know that deliberately attacking a hospital amounts to a war crime. It is time I think, for all of these incidents to be properly and fully investigated with a view to assembling the necessary evidence to ensure that justice is done.
I would like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy – where is the ‘Stop the War’ coalition?
Monitoring group Airwars has been collecting air strike data since August 2014. Using information released from the US-led Coalition, as well as individual member nations, it has been able to comprehensively catalogue the number of air strikes that have killed at least one civilian - in many cases the death tolls are markedly higher.
Statista collated the data and in the graph below, which compares the approximate number of air strikes by Russia in Syria alone, versus Coalition air strikes in Syria and Iraq.
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