(Previous Incident Code: S587)

Up to nine civilians were alleged to have died and 14 others injured in a unuilateral US cruise missile strike on Shoa’yrat airfield, according to local sources – though the combatant status of some or all victims is uncertain.

The state news agency Sana reported: “Nine civilians, including four children, were killed by a number of rockets fired by the United States at dawn today on houses in a number of villages in the south-eastern Homs countryside.” The source said that two missiles which had targeted a Syrian Air Force base instead struck “the village of Shoa’yrat causing the deaths of five civilians, including three children, in addition to the destruction of homes.” It added that a US missile was also fired on “the village of Hamarat, killing four civilians, including a child, while seven civilians were injured when a rocket hit houses in the center of the village of Manzul, about four km from the air base.” The BBC, citing the Sana report, giving the same figures.

HMC published a video in which Activist Mohammed al-Sibai, spokesman for the Homs Media Center, was asked how accurate the allegations were. He said that there were no civilians in the area because it’s a military zone.

Syrian News Center also said that nine civilians died in the strike, as did RT who cited Sana.

Nady Homs published a list of victims and said that six of the names listed were soldiers, but the rest were civilians. The source said that the list of names was issued by Shay’rat hospital.

However, the rebel-aligned Homs Media Center told Airwars that in its assessment all the names in the document issued by the Sha’yrat hospital are of soldiers and that no civilians died.