(Previous Incident Codes: R3119RS3324)

In what sources on the ground referred to as “a horrific massacre”, up to 22 civilians, between 16 and 19 of them children, were killed and dozens more civilians were wounded in airstrikes by alleged Russian aircraft in Kafr Batikh. Local sources told New Arab that a Russian warplane bombed the school of the village with four airstrikes.

Sources told Al Araby news that the first raid targeted the school and caused material damage and injuries among the students. The warplane then returned to bomb the school a second time while the children were fleeing the building. The children ran to hide in a cave, which was dug previously to allow them to shelter during air raids. A third raid then targeted the shelter, which resulted in more civilian deaths.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, “at least 20 civilians (17 children and 3 women) killed as suspected Russian warplanes fired a missile on a shelter of residents, under the ground, near a school in the centre of Kafr Batikh village in Idlib governorate eastern suburbs, on March 21, 2018.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted that about 15 of those killed were part of the Qassoum family. Three other young girls were part of the Aslan family. The SOHR also reported that at least 16  children were aged between 2 and 11 years old.

@RamadanSyria reported that among the victims were the three sisters Mariam (8), Afaf (7) and Bara’a Saleh Aslan (9). Batoul Mohammad Qassoum (4) was killed alongside her brother Omar (3) and Ghofran (2).

The Syrian Human Rights Committee reported the airstrikes took place in the morning, and caused significant damage to civilian homes.

According to the Syrian Civil Defence, it took their teams more than five hours to recover all the bodies of victims from underneath the rubble.

Whereas nearly all sources reported that Russia had been responsible for the airstrikes, the Syrian Human Rights Committee blamed both Russia and the Syrian regime.