At least five identified civilians, including two women and two children, were killed and between two and five civilians were injured in a drone strike on the Al-Rabiya village of Hama countryside in central Syria, declared by Al-Fateh Al-Mubin, a militia affiliated and supported by the Turkish military, during the evening of Thursday, October 26, 2023.
SANA News referring to the Hama Police Command reported that three people were killed and two injured in that attack. The Syrian Ministry of Defense alleged that three people were killed and two others were injured while Sputnik reported the injured were three, and RT counted only two.
The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights reported the highest death toll – four citizens killed, including two women, and that the five injured were all from the same family. SOHR added that there was a state of terror and panic that struck the residents of the area. The victims were transported to the Hama National Hospital for treatment.
Social media posts helped to identify six victims of the deadly attack. According to the Syria news network, the strike killed a soldier, Lieutenant Sharaf Muhammad Ali Muhammad alongside the civilians named as Amna Ibrahim Asaad, the little girl Hala Kamel Al-Ali, and a girl Maryam Habib Al-Ali. Hama branch Facebook account also mentioned Ayman Ali Al-Muhammad and Aya Al-Ahmad among the killed, noting that their bodies arrived at the National Hospital in Hama. Mesyaf news reported about Ayman Ali Al-Muhammad, Amna, Hala and Maryam.
Maryam Habib Al-Ali was a ninth grade student with long straight hair, fair skin and brown eyes. A photo of her was posted while wearing a green bracelet and a red t-shirt with a white stripe on both shoulders. The other girl, Hala Kamel Al-Ali, was a baby with fair skin and brown eyes, a photo of her was posted where she is dressed with a yellow knitted cap and green pijama with print.
The Fox Press Facebook account reported that “the drone took off from the areas of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the pro-Turkey factions, and flew over the airspace of the city of Suqaylabiyah before heading to the town of Al-Rabiah, while ground anti-aircraft guns tried to confront it in the skies of the region without being able to shoot it down.”
The Military monitor media alluded to the death of the Syrian military soldier and also posted a photo of the ceremony where military corpses are gathered inside a room in the Hama National Hospital behind four coffins covered with the Syrian flag. Another picture show a soldier surrounded by his colleagues, giving a military salute to the coffin that was being loaded at the entrance of the hospital.
A procession was also held on October 27 from the hospital. Mesyaf News posted a photo of a man with a brown long tunic who was one step from a multitude of militaries, with his head bowed in front of a coffin covered with the Syrian flag and flowers. Another photo showed many men and a kid gathered around two men, one in front of the other. The first one giving a military salute to the other, while the other holds in his hands probably a folded flag.
According to Military monitor Facebook account and North Syria Live news, the Al-Fateh Al-Mubin militia carried out the drone attack. The Al-Fateh Al-Mubin militia declared the strike in a statement published by North Syria Live news: “Our mujahideen targeted the headquarters of Assad’s gangs in the town of Al-Rabiah, west of Hama, and direct hits were achieved among the enemy’s headquarters in response to targeting the city of Idlib.” However, no civilian casualties were mentioned in this statement.
The incident occured in the evening.
