A child and a humanitarian worker were reported killed, in addition to two leaders from Al Qaeda affiliated Hurras Addin group, and other civilians reported injured after a US drone allegedly struck two cars simultaneously in Arab Sa’eed town, west of Idlib in Syria on October 15th, 2020. On October 29th, the organisation Bonyan announced that one of their volunteers died of her injuries sustained in the attack.

Amnesty International senior crises advisor Donatella Rovera (@DRovera) tweeted a statement by the UN that two humanitarian workers and their driver were injured by shrapnel caused by the attack.

On March 10, 2022 in the CJTF-OIR Civilian Casualty Report, the Coalition deemed this incident credible and assessed that “Coalition aircraft conducted a strike on ISIS terrorists in a vehicle. Regrettably, one civilian was unintentionally wounded due to their proximity to the strike.”

Euphrates Post named the two Jihadi leaders killed as Abu Tharr Al Masri – possibly the main target of the attack – and Abu Yousuf Al Maghribi. The child has not been identified. A local source said the two men, and their companions, were killed in the attack but it is unclear if that refers to the child or to other people.

Shaam News Network said that the car was struck with a guided missile which completely burned the car.

Local sources blamed the Coalition for the incident. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: “Two Arab jihadists and a child were killed this evening, after their car, Santa Fe, was targeted by a drone believed to be affiliated to the International Coalition on the road to Arab Said [Saeed], west of Idlib city. The fatalities’ bodies have been burned almost completely.”

However, Fox News reported from Maj. Beth Riordan, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in a statement to that “U.S. forces conducted a strike against Al Qaeda in Syria in the vicinity of Idlib, Syria, Oct. 15. AQ-S continues to present a threat to America and our allies”, which means the attack was a unilateral US action.

On October 29th, Bonyan organisation announced in a Facebook post that one of their volunteers Dima Abdan died of her injuries sustained in the strike: “It’s with deep sadness we share that this morning our colleague, Dima, has passed of her injuries at a hospital in Turkey. Dima was seriously injured while she, and her colleagues, were on their way back from her humanitarian project location in Salqin city on 15th of Oct. The car was hit by shrapnel in Arab Saeed area.”

Shaam News Network also reported the death of the woman, writing that “she was seriously injured while returning and her colleagues from their work site in the city of Salqin to their homes in the city of Idlib on Wednesday morning. Thursday 10/15/2020 at 4:45 pm, as the vehicle of the organization that was carrying them in the Arab Saeed area was hit by many shrapnel.”

Also the Syrian Network for Human Rights said on October 19th that “Deema Mohammad Najdat Abdan, aged 25, and a member of the awareness team in Bunyan Organization, from Idlib City, died in a Turkish hospital due to severe wounds sustained on October 15th, 2020, when what we believe is a US-led Coalition drone fired a missile on a army vehicle transporting leaders of Huras al Din on Arab Saeed Road West of Idlib city,  as the van transporting the employees of Bunyan Organization passed by the vehicle, causing various levels of wounds for 5 members of the organization.”

The incident occured at approximately 4:45 pm local time.