(Previous Incident Code: R4666)

Injuries amongst civilians, including a minor injury of a woman, were reported as a result of an alleged artillery bombardment with the contested responsibility allegedly perpetrated by the Syrian regime forces and/or Russian military and/or Iranian military and/or Turkish military in the city of Zardana in the northern Idlib countryside, Syria, at dawn of Tuesday, March 19th, 2024.

Twitter/X user @KhshanAymn67350 mentioned that the bombardment happened at the time of “suhoor” for people who fast during Ramadan. Another user, @thiqanewsagency, reported the artillery attack allegedly carried out by Syrian regime forces shortly before 2:53 AM. Twitter/X user @Rian_almasri reported several injuries at 2:51 AM.

@SyriaCivilDefe reported on Twitter/X that they located three shells in Zardana, close to civilian homes, which resulted in minor injuries to a woman. The woman didn’t require transportation to the hospital. SCD also shared images showing the destroyed building walls and a large crater from the explosion near the residential buildings.

@SyriaCivilDefe also released a video depicting the damage to the first Katyan School and to civilian homes in the cities of Binnish and Zardana. Other social media users, including Journalist Arif Watad, Twitter/X user @KhshanAymn67350, and @mzmgr941, shared the image showing a large hole in the wall of a residential building.

Sources on social media like Syrian Civil Defense, Shamel2homs1, and Journalist Aris, attributed the strike to the Syrian regime forces (‘the Assad’s regime”) while others, like Almohrar1, @mzmgr941 and “Editor moment by moment”, attributed the strike to Russian and Iranian military. Twitter/X user @mzmgr941 specifically reported the “hysterically intense missile bombardment” of Zardana and other settlements by the Russian and Iranian military.

Twitter/X user @KhshanAymn67350 claimed that the “Al-Julani’s masters” were responsible for the strike, meaning the Turkish military supporting the Tahrir al-Sham militia under the leadership of Abu Mohammad Al-Julani.

Therefore, Airwars has graded both the Strike Status and Civilian Harm Status of this incident as Contested.