A/HRC/37/72 neighbourhoods uninhabitable, amounting in each instance above to the war crime of intentionally attacking civilian objects. C. Markets 19. A pattern of attacks affecting crowded market places continued during the reporting period (see A/HRC/28/69, annex II, paras. 2–8, A/HRC/30/48, paras. 34–35, A/HRC/31/68, para. 77). For example, on 13 November, minutes after 2 p.m., a series of airstrikes hit the main market, surroundings houses, and the Free Syrian police station of Atarib (Aleppo). The impacted sites covered an area 250 meters long, with the police station being adjacent to the market. One commercial street was all but flattened by the attack. Based on satellite imagery, an area of approximately 5,000 square meters was damaged or destroyed. The airstrikes killed at least 84 individuals including 6 women and 5 children, and injured around another 150. 20. The population of Atarib, estimated at 30,000 inhabitants in 2011, has grown substantially in recent years as many internally displaced persons from previously besieged areas were forced to leave their homes and settled there. Atarib market, previously hit by airstrikes in April 2014 and July 2016, is itself located in a densely populated area. In addition to shops, restaurants, commercial offices and family homes, two schools operate from a building located 100 meters from the market, where an estimated 450 children were attending classes when the airstrikes were carried out. 21. Being located in western Aleppo governorate, Atarib was part of zone 1 of the deescalation zones memorandum agreed in May and implemented in September by the three guarantors of the Astana talks, Russia, Iran and Turkey. The main Russian news outlets did not report on the events as they normally do. Yet, on the same day of the strikes, the spokesperson of the Humaymim airbase denied on social media that Russian aircraft committed a massacre in Atarib. 3 Humaymim airbase is located in Ladhiqiyah, approximately 160 kilometres from Atarib, and used exclusively by Russian forces. A few hours after the airstrikes, media reports claimed that a meeting between Hay’at Tahrir alSham and Nour al-Din al-Zinki took place in Atarib on 13 November. 22. Interviewees, video footage, and photos indicate that it was a clear day. Eyewitnesses saw one aircraft flying at high altitude. In less than ten minutes, the aircraft conducted three waves of airstrikes dropping two weapons in each. Interviewees consistently said that the aircraft remained at high altitude while conducting the strikes and that they received no warning that airstrikes were imminent. On the contrary, interviewees recalled that there had been no airstrikes in Atarib since the de-escalation zones agreement and that they had no reason to believe the town would be targeted. 23. The weapons destroyed the police station and killed at least 13 police officers and six detainees. One survivor who was pulled from the rubble described how the first explosion penetrated the roof of the police station all the way to the ground floor. Some four minutes later another weapon hit the area destroying a three-storey building. A third weapon hit the vicinity of the police station but did not explode. Interviewees denied that the police station was associated with armed factions and maintained it dealt with civilian related matters including acting as traffic police. None of the information gathered suggests that the station was used for military purposes or that any of its officers actively participated in hostilities although some officers carried light weapons. Therefore, the station and the officers remained civilian and were not lawful military objectives. 24. According to local residents and shop owners, the third wave of strikes directly hit a market street killing and maiming civilians and destroying vegetable and clothing shops as well as nearby residential buildings. These accounts are corroborated by video footage and satellite imagery. Shop owners explained that, at the time of the attack, the market was crowded with people who had left work, most of whom were men since many women had stopped going to the market after the earlier attacks. Similarly, as is customary in the 3 At the time of writing, this remained the only statement by a Russian official. 35