Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4629

Incident date

November 19, 2023

Location

سرمين, Sarmeen [Sarmin], Idlib, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

On Sunday, November 19th, 2023, two civilians, including at least one child, were injured as a result of an alleged missile strike by the Syrian regime forces and/or the Russian military in residential neighborhoods of the city of Sarmin, east of Idlib, Syria. One of the children was reportedly injured after falling from a high place due to the fear provoked by the alleged bombing, and therefore has not been counted in the civilian harm total.

Akbar Idlib and Syrian Civil Defence reported that two children were injured. All other sources reported that a young man and a child were injured.

Twitter/X user @SyriaCivilDefe shared a picture at 2:54 PM showing a group of men in what seems to be a hospital around what could be a hospital bed. Some of the men were wearing the Syrian Civil Defence jackets. The picture read “[…]Today, Sunday, November 19, our teams treated the injured from Sarmin Hospital to Idlib City Hospital […].”

Twitter/X user @Almohrar1 shared a video showing the Syrian Civil Defense members transporting an injured male teenager to a hospital. A boy dressed in black was lying on a stretcher with a bandaged arm and head.

On the same day, Facebook users Muhammad Al-Adlabi and Syria-14 shared content about the alleged attack. The former shared a video where at a distance bombshells are visible as they hit a residential area. The latter shared a picture of the interiors of a house filled with rubble, pieces of windows, doors, and broken furniture.

Sources were conflicting on whether the Russian military or the Syrian regime forces were responsible for the attack. Therefore, Airwars has graded both Strike Status and Civilian Harm status as Contested.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Causes of injury / death
    Accidents related to conflict, 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.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (16) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]

  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: Syria-14
  • Source: Akbar idlib
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Russian Military Assessment:

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

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Causes of injury / death
    Accidents related to conflict, 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.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (16) [ collapse]