(Previous Incident Code: R4776)

Shortly before 10 a.m. on Saturday, 7 December 2024, the village of al-Ghanto in the northern Homs countryside of Syria was struck by either an artillery shelling or an airstrike with contested responsibility allegedly carried out by the Russian military and/or Syrian regime forces, killing an entire family consisting of at least five civilians, and injuring a number of civilians.

Twitter/X user @Almohrar1 reported the incident at 10:11 a.m., mentioning “Martyrs and wounded, including children,” resulting from the strike on al-Ghanto and marking the information as “urgent.” Several civilian casualties were reported by other sources, with some sources indicating that a woman and her three children were killed.

Social media posts also mentioned the death of a man, Khaled Abdel-Hay Mohammed Saeed al-Obeid al-Jahwani, in the same attack, who reportedly was the head of the family. The Facebook posts by Khalil Al-Halabi and “We are away from you, Homs” emphasized that the “entire family” was killed in the attack. Based on this information, it seems likely that Khaled al-Jahwani was killed alongside his wife and three children, although there was no direct confirmation of that in the sources.

The strike on Al-Ghanto was mentioned in an article published on Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on 7 December, describing it as an “intense shelling” carried out by regime forces and reporting at least four civilian deaths. A post on X/Twitter by Syrian Network News described the incident as an airstrike by Russian warplanes, mentioning that children and women were also among the victims. The post also included a photograph showing a column of smoke rising from the village.

In another post published on the same day, Syrian Revolution Talbisah also identified Khaled Abdel-Hay al-Obeid al-Jahwani as a victim of the attack. The same post also reported that the shelling was fired from the Engineering College located in Al-Mashrafah. This victim was also mentioned in a eulogy published by Northern Homs Countryside Facebook account.

Mohammed Jahoni mourned the death of Khaled, who was his cousin, in an emotional Facebook post, writing, “ I offer my condolences to myself, my father, my sisters, my cousins ​​and my paternal uncles. To God we belong and to Him we shall return.”

Facebook account of Al Hadath Syria shared a video showing a flying aircraft followed by a powerful explosion, noting that the video featured an airstrike on Al-Ghanto village. The video also showed a thick cloud of black smoke billowing in the skies.

Sources provided conflicting accounts regarding the type of attack: some reported it as an artillery strike, while others described it as an airstrike conducted by fixed-wing aircraft. Additionally, sources differed on identifying the perpetrator: while some referred to the Syrian regime, others have identified Russian military forces as responsible.