Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1169

Incident date

August 19, 2016

Location

الغنطو, Ghantou, Homs, Syria

Geolocation

34.82179, 36.69605 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Ten named civilians including two children and two women died and dozens more were injured in airstrikes on Ghantou in Homs, local media reported. The majority of sources blamed the Assad regime, though some others attributed the event to Russia.

Smo-syria, @syriapost1, @ALAMAWI and Halab Today said that Russia was responsible. Halab Today put the death toll at 11 including two children and one woman.

However, LCCSY pointed to both Russia and the regime, reporting that “22 civilians died, mostly due to air strikes on Al-Ghantu and Talbisah”.

But most other reports attributed the event to the Assad regime.

A number of other sources didn’t identify the warplanes responsible. For example, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported three strikes, killing “at least 13 people, including a male child, a female child, four citizen women and a judge”.

RFS Media Center added that “one of the raids targeted a school in the town”.

The Violations Documentation Center, who blamed “Syrian government and affiliated militias” named 13 civilian fatalities. They also named Farid Abd Al Satar Othman, a fighter, as killed.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (3)

Adult male killed
Adult male killed
Adult male killed

Family members (5)

Adult female killed
Adult female killed
Adult female killed
Adult male killed
Child female killed

Family members (2)

Adult female killed

The victims were named as:

Adult male killed
Adult male killed

Summary

  • Civilian infrastructure
    School
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    10 – 22
  • (2 children2–4 women7 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–36
  • 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 (26) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (13) [ collapse]

  • The aftermath of a strike on Ghantou, Aug 19th (via SND)
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Civilian casulties are carried from the scene following an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, Motasem homs)
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    A family of civilian casualties in the aftermath of the raid which killed up to 13 civilians. (via, SN$R)
  • Mehran Khaled Ahdab, killed in an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, VDC)
  • Ahmed Khaled Ahdab, killed in an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, VDC)
  • Raed Abdullah Ahdab, killed in an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, VDC)
  • Taiba Hassan Alken, killed in an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, VDC)
  • Shujaa Hassan Alken, killed in an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, VDC)
  • Farid Abd Al Satar Othman, fighter. (via, VDC)
  • The exact moment the alleged raids fell. (via, Srg-syria)
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    The bodies of civilian casualties. (via, Ghantou homs)
  • A news bulletin highlighting the destruction. (via, Ghantou homs)
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    An injured man seeks help following an alleged Russian and Syrian Regime raid. (via, RFS Media Center)

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

Russian Military

On August 19th 2016, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation reported that, "at 10:55 in the morning, the Zeliony Dol and Serpukhov small-sized missile ships of the Black Sea Fleet during the combat maneuvering performed 3 launches of cruise missiles Kalibr from fire positions in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea against facilities of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist grouping in Syria.
As a result, a command centre and a terrorist base near the Dar-Taaza inhabited area as well as a plant manufacturing mortar munitions and a large depot with armament were destroyed in the Aleppo province. The objective monitoring data confirmed the elimination of the planned targets." They added that allegedly "for the security of civilians, the flight path of the cruise missiles was planned over uninhabited territories".

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Civilian infrastructure
    School
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    10 – 22
  • (2 children2–4 women7 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–36
  • 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 (26) [ collapse]