Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS4533

Incident date

November 23, 2020

Location

البارة, Al Bara, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

35.68599, 36.54239 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

One civilian, a man, was reported killed and an unknown number of civilians sustained injuries as a result of alleged Regime, Russian and/or Iranian artillery shelling on the town of Al Bara in the Jabal Al-Zawiya area in the southern countryside of Idlib on November 23, 2020.

Baladi News and the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported that the belligerent struck civilian houses. Both sources also stated that the attack on Al Bara was a violation of the ceasefire agreement reached following consultations between the Turkish and Russian presidents, which came into effect on March 6, 2020.

Regarding civilian harm, Halab Today TV tweeted that “A civilian was killed in the town of Al-Bara in the southern countryside of Idlib, as a result of artillery shelling by the regime forces on the town.” Similarly, The Syrian Civil Defense reported that “[a] person was killed, after being seriously wounded in the head” and that “The Syrian Civil Defense team worked to transfer the injured to the nearest medical point to provide treatment, but he died of his serious injuries. Multiple sources, including Stormagency1 and @anasanas84, identified the victim a the young man Muhammad Eido Shartah.

The SNHR was the only sources reporting wounded, saying that “[a] man named as Muhammad Eidou Shartah was killed while other civilians were injured when Syrian regime artillery forces fired shells at houses in [Al Bara].

The SNHR also noted that “[a]ttacks of this nature spread terror and panic among civilians, leading them to flee their lands and homes in an attempt to reach safety, and forcibly displacing them, with the number of internally displaced persons within Syria now reaching approximately 6.5 million Syrian citizens in total.”

Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the attack with @HalabTodayTV and @aa_arabic attributing the attack to the Syrian Regime, while @anasanas84 and Scoop referred to Russia as having carried out the strike on Al Bara. @Ahmad_1alshble said that both Russia and the Regime were responsible for the attack and @Marea_Elshame blamed Russian and Iranian forces.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Al Bara (البارة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.68599, 36.54239. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 (20) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (9) [ collapse]

  • Caption translation: "A civilian martyr as a result of artillery and missile strikes from the Russian occupation militia and Bashar al-Assad's gangs on the town of Al-Bara in Jabal Al-Zawiya, south of Idlib."
  • One civilian was allegedly killed as a result of Russian or Syrian regime attacks on Al-Bara in Jabal Al-Zawiya on November 23rd 2020 (Image via @Ahmad_1alshble / Twitter)
  • The Syrian regime or Russian forces allegedly targeted Al-Bara on November 23rd 2020 (Image via @aa_arabic / Twitter)
  • The Syrian regime or Russian forces allegedly targeted Al-Bara on November 23rd 2020 (Image via @aa_arabic / Twitter)
  • The Syrian regime or Russian forces allegedly targeted Al-Bara on November 23rd 2020 (Image via @aa_arabic / Twitter)
  • The Syrian regime or Russian forces allegedly targeted Al-Bara on November 23rd 2020 (Image via @aa_arabic / Twitter)
  • Syrian Civil Defense reported that one person was killed by a Syrian regime or Russian artillery on November 23th 2020 (Image via Twitter)
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    One civilian was reported to have been killed by Russian or Syrian regime artillery on November 23rd 2020 (Image via @Marea_Elshame / Twitter)

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
    Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 (20) [ collapse]