Airwars assessment
At 1:40 AM on Tuesday, 26th March 2024, airstrikes with contested responsibility allegedly perpetrated by the Israeli military and/or US military on areas surrounding the city of Deir Ezzor, Syria, killed a male civilian and a child and injured up to 32 civilians, including at least 14 children.
The 42-year-old Syrian engineer Imad Adnan Shihab was a husband and father of two children and an employee at the Water and Sanitation Coordinator for the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO posted a heartfelt tribute to its former employee: “We announce with deep sorrow the tragic loss of a dedicated member of our team in Deir-Ezzor, Syria, Engineer Imad Shihab,” stating also: “He was a highly skilled professional who demonstrated great commitment and expertise in carrying out his duties” and “His legacy of dedicated service and loyalty will be remembered with appreciation and gratitude by all who had the privilege of working with him.” According to the WHO, Imad “he had extensive experience in engineering and project management with FAO, WFP, UNICEF and a number of NGOs, during which he supervised numerous construction and rehabilitation projects, many of which involved water plants and sanitation facilities” and was survived by his wife and two young children who live in Damascus. The post also included a photo of Imad Shihab in his WHO uniform.
While the WHO reported that Imad Shihab was killed due to being in a building that was hit during a series of airstrikes, Euphrates Post and Furat Post reported that it was “a result of shrapnel from one of the missiles falling on their homes adjacent to the villa” that was hit. Deir Ezzor posted that “his house is located next to his brother’s house, which the militias seized earlier and turned into their headquarters.”
Twitter/X account @qstreetjournal claimed that the deadly attack also took the life of a child. The account shared a video where members of the families of the victims were describing the circumstances of the strike, attributing it to the US military: “One night during Ramadan we heard a huge explosion. We thought it was an earthquake, but it turned out to be an American bombing at 2:00 AM. The rubble began to fall on the residents of the house, killing one child and wounding 14 others, most of whom were children with fractures in the jaw, skull, and limbs. What was the fault of the children who slept and woke up to the explosions? It was two consecutive strikes. What do the Americans and Israel want? All the victims are civilian children.”
The video also featured a small boy with a severe jaw/face injury and a small injured girl lying on a hospital bed.
Various sources reported that between 10-20 civilians were injured, including children and women, and that some were in serious condition. According to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, 32 civilians were injured. Euphrates Post’s Facebook account wrote that people were injured as a result of shrapnel from one of the missiles falling on their homes adjacent to the villa on University Presidency Street where Iranian militia members was allegedly stationed. Twitter/X user @Deir_alzour_one claimed that 14 civilians were wounded, including children and women.
The Syrian Observatory had announced that the toll of airstrikes on sites in the Deir Ezzor countryside had risen to 49 people, dead and wounded, among them one civilian and 12 members of the Iranian militia killed and 10 civilians injured. The identities of the injured remained unknown.
Multiple sources reported that the strike took the lives of Syrian and Iranian militants. According to Euphrates Post, five members of an Iranian militia were killed while the Twitter/X user @@cr7_50_ alleged that nearly 20 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and militia were killed. Sama Deir ez-Zor Network claimed that the number of killed militia members was nine, most of them Iraqis, and the number of killed combatants generally exceeded 25. Among the victims was Behrouz Vahidi, an advisor to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard militia and/or an officer in the Iranian Basij forces; a member of Iranian militia Akram Shaheen Al-Mohammad, and Hajj Askar, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard militia who had been killed in Albukamal. The death of Behrouz Vahidi was confirmed by the Iranian ISNA news agency.
Deir Ezzor Now claimed that the attack was on the villa of Dr. Abdel Moneim Shehab, which is considered the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard militia and is located in the villas area opposite the presidency of Al-Furat University in the city of Deir Ezzor – Al-Qusour neighborhood. According to this source, three members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed and seven injured.
According to Twitter/X user @Ahmad_1alshble, among the casualties were also two brothers, members of the Syrian regime forces, Ammar Essam Salem and Ali Essam Salem. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants claimed the death of seven soldiers as a result of the strike. The sources also mentioned Commander Wissam Imad al-Din Daher among the casualties.
Sources posted photos of smoke coming from buildings and reported that airstrikes hit civilian and residential areas, such as the residential neighborhoods in the Al-Mayadeen and the Al-Qusour neighborhood of Deir Ezzor. Euphrates Post also reported that Iranian militia sites, such as a villa on University Presidency Street in the centre of Deir Ezzor, Al-Tammu neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city of Al-Mayadeen located in the countryside east of Deir Ezzor, “Human Resources Headquarters” in Badr Hospital and a two-story building on Al-Maari Street both in the centre of the city of Albukamal and a house in the town of Salhiya in Albukamal countryside, were hit.
Where sources identified the belligerent, some sources, including Euphrates Post, Furat Post and Deir Ezzor Now, attributed the strikes to the Israeli military.
The Syrian authorities (in particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants) held the US military accountable for the strike, saying in its statement: “Syria condemns the brutal American aggression that targeted villages, towns and military sites in Deir ez-Zor at dawn today, and led to the martyrdom of seven soldiers and a civilian, the wounding of 32 others.”
Attribution to the US military was also reported by Syria News, Twitter/X account @qstreetjournal, @Deir_alzour one and Facebook accounts Abu Islam Al-Jazrawi and One News. One News alleged that American aircraft carried out 10 airstrikes near Deir Ezzor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not attribute the airstrikes to any of the belligerents while Twitter/X account @idleb_online attributed them to both the Israeli and US military.
According to Twitter/X user @cr7_50_, a senior US official denied any involvement of the United States or the US-led Coalition in last night’s air strikes on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard sites in the cities of Deir ez-Zor, Al-Mayadeen, and Albukamal. Euphrates Post also mentioned that an American official denied, in a statement to Al Jazeera, reports that the United States had carried out any strikes in Syria during the past hours.
The incident occured at approximately 1:40 am local time.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (44) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (36) [ collapse]
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Source: Euphrates
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Source: Euphrates
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Source: WHO
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Source: Suhaib Al Shakraji
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Source: @Ahmad_1alshble
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Source: @Ahmad_1alshble
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Source: @HadiAlabdallah
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Source: @drhossamsamy65
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Source: @Ahmad_1alshble
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Source: @Ahmad_1alshble
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Source: @SyriawatanNews
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Source: @SyriawatanNews
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Source: @ar_8kn
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Source: @Deir_alzour_one
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Source: One News
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Source: The Syrian event
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Source: Sama Deir ez-Zor Network
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Source: The Syrian event
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Source: The reality of Al-Hasakah
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Source: Tartous city
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Source: Tartous city
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Source: Tartous city
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Source: Kholod Al Hasan
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Source: Kholod Al Hasan
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Source: Deir Ezzor
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Source: NDF center in Deir Ezzor
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Source: @SAMSyria0
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