Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS454

Incident date

January 23, 2016

Location

معدان, Ma'adan, Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

35.751055, 39.615398 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Four civilians were killed in an airstrike on Ma’adan, according to local sources – though it is currently unclear whether Russian forces or the Assad regime were responsible for the incident.

Only the Shaam News Network blamed Russia for the raid, reporting in a news roundup that “Russian enemy planes launched air raids on civilian homes in the city of Ma’dan which led to the fall of the four martyrs and a number of wounded.

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently also reported that four were killed, but they did not say who the “warplane” responsible belonged to.

However, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, who put the death toll at “at least three“, regime warplanes carried out the attack.

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (5) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • 'Destruction resulting from the air raid that targeted Ma’adan today [Jan 23rd) and killed 4 people'. (via, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently)

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

Russian Military

In its military report published on 25th January, the Kremlin said: “In the course of the last three days, January 22-24, aircraft of the Russian aviation group in the Syrian Arab Republic performed 169 combat sorties engaging 484 objects of terrorists’ infrastructure…crews of Tu-22M3 long-range bombers performed 18 combat sorties from the territory of the Russian Federation in order to engage manpower and hardware of the ISIS near Deir ez-Zor on January 22-24. Flight range reached more than 2,000 kilometers.“

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (5) [ collapse]