Between eight and 39 civilians were killed, and dozens more were injured, following a raid which targeted residential housing in Al Qusour neighbourhood, Idlib city, local media reported. Sources were conflicted as to who was to blame, with some attributing blame to Russia and others to the Syrian regime. Various sources blamed both parties for the raid.
Al Jazeera reported that an entire four story building collapsed following a targeted attack with a missile strike. A whole family of eight displaced civilians were allegedly killed.
Another figure estimated that as many as 13 people were the same family were killed, including a doctor. Other sources reported that the missile used was highly explosive, resulting in huge amounts of material damage. There were also reports of the use of vacuum missiles.
According to sources, as many as ten people were trapped under the rubble, and up to 20 people were allegedly missing in the immediate aftermath of the raid. Photographic evidence shows members of the White Helmets searching for missing victims in the rubble.
Details of the incident were published in a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights on April 11th, almost a month after the attack. “On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, at approximately 03:25, fixed-wing warplanes we believe were Russian fired two missiles in no less than five minutes that targeted two sites of a close proximity. The first missile targeted a multi-floor residential building in al Qosour neighborhood in the southern parts of Idlib city, which resulted in the killing of 24 civilians including 15 children, one infant, and six adult females. Most of the victims were IDPs from Aleppo suburbs. Additionally, the building was heavily destroyed. The second missile fell nearly 100 meters from the same residential building.”
Furthermore the report gave details from the victims, “Mahmoud al Sayeh, a doctor from Aleppo suburbs, lost all of his family -seven children and their mother- in the massacre. Mahmoud, whom we contacted via WhatsApp, told us that he woke up to the sound of a warplane soaring. A few minutes later, he heard the missile ripple and his children’s screams for help: “The missile was directed, and it wasn’t a free-fall missile. The rubble piled up on me, but I was hardly managed to dig a small crack in the rock rubble to breath. A few minutes later, I heard the sound of civil defense vehicles and ambulances, which was followed by a second missile.”
Mohammad added that he remained under the rubble for nearly two and half hours until the civil defense pulled him out and took him to the medical center: “I sustained fractures in my ribs and my right leg. I was the only one to survive from my family. Russia has killed them all.”
“Ahmad Rahhal, a local media activist, told SN4HR, via Facebook, that he was able to distinguish the Russian warplanes from their voice and the high altitude at which they were flying, and also through the observatory that determined that the warplane took off from Hmeimim. Ahmad added that he went to where the two missiles fell in al Qosour neighborhood and saw the targeted residential building that was turned into rubble: “I arrived in al Qosour neighborhood a few minutes after the first attack. The warplane was soaring above the neighborhood and fired a second missile that fell near the destroyed building. I saw the civil defense pulling out victims’ dead bodies and the injured. There was one among the injured whose hand was amputated. I saw the civil defense save two children from under the rubble.”
Omar al Mkahhal, a member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, told SNHR that civil defense and Red Crescent teams pulled out more than 20 dead bodies from the rubble including two doctors from al Bab city in Aleppo suburbs who fled to Idlib city recently: “The Russian warplanes were who carried out the airstrikes at dawn. The sound of the explosion was too high although the bombardment was with only one missile.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
