Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS3634

Incident date

April 30, 2019

Location

عابدين, Abdin, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

One or two civilians, including a woman, died and up to three others were wounded in alleged Russian or Syrian regime air and/or artillery strikes on Abdin, Idlib governorate, on April 30th, 2019, local media reported.

Local sources reported that a woman was killed and others were injured when Abdin, south of Idlib, was struck by rockets and artillery shells. Saray Arabic was among several sources putting the death toll at two civilians.

Al Souria reported two killed and three wounded in alleged regime airstrikes on Abdin and Arinbeh but did not specify how many civilian casualties fell in Abdin.

Mohamed Belass posted a video of an interview with Osama Al Shami, a resident of the village, who said: “The beginning was with rockets attack and suddenly the helicopters were present. It was a heavy blow and a bomb. There is a woman martyr and people fled from the shelling. It was painful and tragic.” The Syrian Network for Human Rights named Hala Fares Al Hazza as the killed woman.

Shaam News Network, who blamed both Russia and the regime, published two distressing videos of interviews with survivors. In the first video, a weeping woman says: “When the strike came, we were in the cave. All the members of the Rashidi family were in the cave, except my sister. The plane bombed us. My uncle says that my sister was hit by shrapnel. And they said she died.”

A man from the village says: “We were at home and we heard a helicopter. We ran away. The helicopter hit the house of Abdul Karim and my house and my son’s house.”

In the second Shaam video, a woman is running among the rubble of destroyed homes, crying: “Where are they?”

An older woman is then interviewed. She says: “I am an old woman who can not move, so I could not escape when the shelling came. There were two or three strikes around me and part of the house fell down, but my father-in-law came and drove me out of the rubble after the shelling ended.”

According to @Wesal_TV, several homes were destroyed in the shelling.

While some sources blamed Russia, others blamed the explosive barrels dropped from Syrian regime helicopters. Al Etihad Press reported that Abdin had also been targeted with sea-borne artillery.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • (1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–3
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • 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
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (30) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (9) [ collapse]

  • Smoke circles up from the town of Abdin in Idlib after it was struck by alleged Russian airstrikes on April 30th, according to Syria.liveuamap.
  • Barrel bombs falls on Abdin, April 30th.
  • Translation: "Watch the Russian Asadi enemy demolish the houses of civilians over the heads of its inhabitants in the town of Abdin countryside # Idlib South"
  • The aftermath of strikes on Abdin, April 30th.
  • A resident of the village reported on the rocket attakc on Abdin village on April 30th (via Mohamed Belass).
  • Video showing a woman crying amidst the rubble caused by alleged Syrian or Russian airstrikes on Abdin on April 30th (via Shaam).
  • Video showing a woman running among the rubble of destroyed houses in Abdin after the town was struck by alleged Syrian or Russian airstrikes on April 30th (via Shaam).
  • Translation: "watch the shelling of the village of Abidin, south of Idlib, and the destruction it caused" (via Step News Agency).
  • Photo of alleged Russian or Syrian regime strikes on Abdin on April 30th, 2019 (via Arabi21).

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • (1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–3
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • 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
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (30) [ collapse]