Between two and 19 civilians were killed in an aerial bombardment on the Aleppo neighbourhood of al Ferdos, multiple sources reported – though reports were conflicted as to whether Russia or the Assad regime was to blame.
Photographs from various sources appeared to show five casualties.
Sources were unclear on the number of casualties, though reports tended to agree that among the casualties were one or two children, one woman, and one man. The Syrian Network for Human Rights put the death toll at three, including one female child and one woman.
Erem News posted photographs of White Helmets digging bodies out of rubble. The photographs showed adult bodies covered in dust, making it difficult to distinguish the number of dead.
A photograph tweeted by @salqin showed an older man holding a young man’s dead body. This photograph was also tweeted by @TRtalarabiya, with a caption that said, “The number of victims today in Aleppo rose to 93 after a baby and an old man were killed in the neighbourhood of Al Fardous raid by a Russian cluster bomb.”
The Syrian Network for Human Rights posted a photograph of Mostafa Hamdan’s dead body. Two other Twitter accounts, @aboalhodaalhoms and @AleppoAMC, tweeted a second photograph of Mostafa, which appeared to have been taken shortly after the first.
An account called @IranArabSpring tweeted more photographs of the neighbourhood shortly after the attacks. In the photos, at least three civilian deaths can be seen: there is a mangled body, a small child (not Mostafa Hamdan), the body of an adult man, and a body wrapped in a rug.
Other sources mentioned higher numbers: AleppoAMC said nine were killed and “dozens” wounded in the attack, while Qasioun News claimed at least 19 deaths.
A YouTube video posted by AleppoAMC showed one body, which appeared to be an adult male, being pulled out of the rubble. Elmwatin News claimed three deaths and “scores” wounded, but noted the casualty numbers could rise as more bodies were pulled out of the rubble.
All4Syria and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that helicopters (belonging to the regime) were involved in the Aleppo strikes for that day, meaning that Assad’s involvement in this event can’t be ruled out.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
