Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS4475

Incident date

February 24, 2020

Location

الفطيرة, Al Fatira, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

Between two and three civilians, including two men, were reported killed and up to four civilians sustained injuries during an alleged Russian or Regime airstrike on the town of Al Fatira in the southern countryside of Idlib on February 24, 2020.

Regarding civilian harm, @IdlibPlus and Bsklaa16 said that “civilians were wounded and trapped under the rubble as a result of the raids by the Russian occupation aircraft on residential neighborhoods in the town of [Al Fatira].” Alhariri58 and multiple other local sources tweeted that civilians died and were trapped under the rubble as a result of Russian airstrikes on Al Fatari, without giving an exact number of civilian casualties.

In turn, Bawaba Idlib reported that according to activists “Two civilians were killed and four others were wounded as a result of targeting the town of Al-Fatirah by Russian warplanes.” Similarly, KMC stated that “two men were killed and four others were injured (…).” @thenewday24 was the only source that reported a death toll of three civilians, while also noting that other civilians sustained injuries.

Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strike. All sources but one attributed the airstrike to the Russian Armed Forces, with @NagiNajjar and @HadiAlabdallah claiming that Russia used vacuum missiles to attack Al Fatira. The Syrian Press Center was the only source that referred to Regime forces as having carried out the airstrikes.

The local time of the incident is unknown. However, urgent tweets about the attack were posted as early as 7:03 AM local time.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 3
  • (2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–4
  • 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

Sources (35) [ collapse]

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
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 3
  • (2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–4
  • 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

Sources (35) [ collapse]