(Previous Incident Code: R4709)

On Wednesday, 27 November 2024, a 54-year-old woman named Rose Ismail al-Ali was seriously injured when an artillery shell struck an olive press in the city of Sarmin, in the Idlib Governorate, and she died due to her wounds the day after, Thursday, 28 November 2024. In the same attack, another woman was also reportedly injured. The shelling had contested responsibility and was attributed to the Syrian regime forces, Russian military and/or Iranian militia.

The first report of the attack came from a post on X/Twitter published by @SyriaCivilDefe at 12:56 PM, reporting an initial toll of only one injured woman; the post identified regime forces as responsible for the attack. Less than one hour later the @SyriaCivilDefe team reported that two women were injured and confirmed that there were no further injuries. A following post in the morning of November 28 reported the death of one woman, adding that the identified attackers were “regime forces and Russia”.

News of the incident was shared online by several other accounts. The earliest information on the woman killed was shared at 7:03 AM on November 28 by Facebook user Abdullah Satif who identified her as “Rose Ismail Al-Ali, from the town of Karatin, age 54 years.”

The only available image of the incident site was published by @SyriaCivilDefe, which showed a rescuer standing next to a small crater in the middle of an olive grove – while most posts reported the attack as an artillery shelling, some others also suggested the use of missiles. Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strike as well, with some suggesting that the Syrian regime and Russian forces were responsible, while others also mentioned “Iranian militias.”