Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4617

Incident date

October 29, 2023

Location

كنصفرة, outskirts of Kansafra, Idlib, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

Shortly before 8:55 AM on Sunday, October 29, 2023, a 17-year-old-girl was injured by artillery shelling with contested responsibility allegedly perpetrated by Syrian regime forces and/or Russian military and/or Iranian military while she was harvesting olives with her family on the outskirts of Kansafra, in the southern countryside of Idlib, Syria.

Twitter/X user @Ahmad_1alshble was the first to report the incident at 7:22 AM, informing about the injury of a woman. At 11:11 AM  the Syrian Civil Defence wrote on its Twitter/X account that a 17-year-old girl was “seriously injured” and had to be taken to the Jericho (Ariha) hospital for treatment, sharing a blurred picture of the victim in an ambulance. There were no reports of physical injuries concerning other members of her family present at the time of the incident.

A  tweet by Twitter/X user “Snarling of the Syrian revolution” (@mzmgr941) identified the belligerents as Russian and Iranian military. He also added that more than 10 Russian and Iranian reconnaissance planes were in the sky at the time of the incident.

The other sources, including the Syrian Civil Defence, attributed the artillery strike to the Syrian regime forces. Therefore, Airwars has graded both Strike Status and Civilian Harm Status as Contested.

The incident occured at approximately 8:55 am local time.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Impact
    Food
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military, Iranian Military

Sources (9) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @Ahmad_1alshble

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Iranian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Iranian Military
  • Iranian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Impact
    Food
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military, Iranian Military

Sources (9) [ collapse]