(Previous Incident Code: R4634)

On Saturday, December 9th, 2023 at least one civilian was killed and seven other civilians, including three children, were injured by an alleged artillery strike by Syrian regime forces and/or the Russian and/or Iranian military in residential areas in the city of Sarmin, east of Idlib, Syria.

According to an initial toll by the Syrian Civilian Defence, at least one civilian, a man, was killed and five civilians were injured, including at least two children. According to a Facebook post by Abdullah Stifan posted later on the day of the attack, seven people in total, including three children, were injured from the attack in Sarmin.

At 5:01 p.m., more than 10 missiles reportedly landed in the north, east, and center of the city of Sarmin, in Eastern Idlib, hitting residential areas, resulting in the death of one man, Ibrahim Ghazi al-Ibrahim from the village of Afs in Idlib, and the injury of six people: Ahmad Walid al-Ahmad (mild foot injury), Abdel Malik Hashash (a child who suffered a moderate thigh injury), Abdel Razzak Mohamad al-Hassan (a child who suffered a minor thigh injury), Faisal Ghazi al-Ibrahim (who sustained a dangerous injury in the head and neck, but his situation improved after a surgery), Mustafa Ghazi al-Ibrahim (who was also injured in the head but his situation improved), Mahmoud Ali al-Jomaa (a child who was slightly injured), according to a Facebook post on December 9, 2023, by Abdullah Stifan who posted pictures and videos of some of the injured people at the hospital being treated by doctors.

At 6:42 p.m., four missiles hit the eastern part of Sarmin and the city center, causing a fire at the site of the attack, resulting in the injury of one person, Abdel Razzaq Mohammad al-Said, who sustained light injuries, according to a Facebook post by Abdullah Stifan.

A video shared at 6:02 p.m. by Twitter/X user @Xd60euW24gEtWPp showed the aftermath of a strike on a street with debris on fire, it is unclear where the video was taken from as the post mentions missile strikes on the outskirts of the city of Idlib, the industrial area, and Sarmin.

A video shared at 5:51 p.m. by Twitter/X user @Military_OSTX who said the attacks took place in Sarmin and the city of Idlib, showed a street with an injured man on the ground, and debris on fire, during the aftermath of the attack.

Multiple pictures showed smoke billowing out of the sites of the attack in a residential neighborhood and industrial area of the city of Idlib and Sarmin, posted by Twitter/X user @We44607248.

Sources were conflicting on whether the Syrian regime forces and/or the Russian and/or the Iranian military were responsible for the attacks.