(Previous Incident Code: R4755a)

On Monday, December 2, 2024, a man named Abdul Latif Ahmed Mahloul, nicknamed Abu Juma, and a man named Ali Majdi Wardi were killed in a civilian car as a result of an airstrike with contested responsibility allegedly perpetrated by Syrian regime forces and/or Russian military on a road in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the southern countryside of Idlib, Syria.

Twitter/X user @3M_SI shared a post on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 11.41 a.m. (the day following the incident) writing that the two men had left Sarmin the day before towards Khan Sheikhoun and Aleppo and had “not returned yet”, calling for anyone who would know anything about their whereabouts to share it.

The age of the two civilian casualties is unknown, but several posts shared on Facebook and Twitter/X included pictures of the two victims, and some sources, including Syrian Network for Human Rights on Facebook, referred to Ali Majdi Wardi as a “boy” or a “child” but sources that knew him referred to him as a young man – Ali is seen in images to be a young man with dark hair and beard, wearing a brown jacket. In the image shared by the sources, Abdul Latif is seen as a middle-aged man with large brown eyes and a dark trimmed beard, wearing a headscarf.

Facebook user Abbed L RAOOF mourned the death of Abdul Latif, writing, “With hearts that believe in God’s will and destiny and are filled with sadness and grief, we announce to you the #martyr, God willing, #Abdul Latif Ahmed Mahloul (nicknamed Abu Juma), as a result of being targeted by a hostile Russian aircraft.” Also on Facebook, Moteeaa Jalal grieved over the death of Ali, “the beautiful young man.”

Some sources on social media named the Russian military as perpetrators of the attack, with Twitter/X user @snhr and Facebook accounts of Al-Marsad Media Network and Syrian Network for Human Rights naming the Syrian regime forces and Russian military as potential belligerents.