(Previous Incident Codes: R061RS077)

According to the Syrian Observatory, “suspected Russian warplanes attacked the village of al-Sheikh Barakah in the township of Sinjar in the eastern countryside of Idlib, killing a woman and [her] two children while other civilians were seriously wounded.” A third child died a fews days later of her injuries.

The centre of the village was targeted in the incident, resulting in widespread destruction. Up to 20 civilians were also reported injured. The Syrian Network later cited an eyewitness: “I was 3km away from the shelling incident. At 8pm on Sunday night, a Russian warplane launched a vacuum missile on the eastern neighborhood. I saw a warplane from a very high altitude and it launched a rocket without even flying at lower altitudes to reach the target. When it launched the rocket the sky was lit from the severity of the explosion. The neighborhood, which is free of any military headquarters, was shelled, and shops and houses around 500 meters were damaged, and a woman, her son and another child were killed. Five minutes later the warplane performed another raid 250 meters away from the first shelling location with a vacuum missile also. There, at least 7 shops were damaged. I do not know why they are shelling civilians.”