Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4428

Incident date

December 22, 2021

Location

كنصفرة, Kansafra, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

35.658233, 36.484942 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A child was killed and his father was injured when bomb remnants exploded in Kansafra on December 22, 2021.

According to the Syrian Civil Defense, a young man was killed and his father was wounded when remnants of a cluster bomb exploded in Kansafra. The bomb was only identified as belonging to both the regime and Russian forces. @Almohrar1 also reported that a father was injured and that his son, a child, was killed.

A tweet from @nahermedia also identified two victims but reported that a man was killed and his son was injured.

Kansafra Media Center provided the name of the victim killed in the explosion: Ahmed Jamal Kassoub.

While Radio Al Kul referred to Ahmed’s father as “slightly” injured, Baladi News reported that he was seriously injured and transported to the medical center near their town.

Radio al-Kul’s correspondent in Idlib said that the shell was next to the family’s house and exploded when the father and son tried to dismantle and remove it. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that the father and son intended to sell the unexploded ordnance.

@Almohrar1 attributed the exploded remnants to Russia while @WM_FREESYR blamed the regime. @MAZEN_ALMAWAS referred to the bomb as being an “unexploded rocket-propelled grenade”.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Ahmed Jamal Kassoub احمد جمال قصوب
Age unknown male killed
Father of Ahmed Jamal Kassoub
Adult male injured

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Kansafra (كنصفرة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.658233, 36.484942. 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
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Planted explosives and unexploded ordnance (UXO)
  • 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 (16) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • Civil Defense forces responded when remnants of a cluster bomb exploded in Kansafra on December 22, 2021. (Image posted by Syrian Civil Defense)
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Very graphic image of Ahmed Jamal Kassoub, killed when bomb remnants exploded in Kansafra on December 22, 2021. (Image posted by Hamed)

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
    1
  • (1 child)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Planted explosives and unexploded ordnance (UXO)
  • 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 (16) [ collapse]