Between five and seven civilians, including three children, a nurse and a journalist, were killed in alleged Russian or Syrian regime airstrikes on the town of Kfarouma in Idlib governorate on November 10th, 2019. Between eight and 11 civilians, including children, were injured, as reported by local sources.
Step News Agency reported that Russian air raids targeted Kafrouma, “coinciding with artillery shelling from the regime forces stationed in Tel Aas”. Idlib Plus reported that the town was targeted with “three airstrikes and 17 artillery shells on civilian homes in the center of the town”. Halab Today also reported that “Civil Defense stated that the Russian aviation targeted civilian homes with three air strikes, followed by several artillery shells, which led to a “massacre” among civilians, noting that its teams had treated the injured to hospitals, and the bodies of the dead were recovered for delivery to their families.”
Besides the death of three children, Shaam News Agency also reported the death of a woman. They furthermore identified Abdulhamid Al Yusuf, a media officer in the Kafrouma Media Office, as one of the victims. Al Yusuf was killed while reporting on the airstrikes.
Siblings Fatima Aqsa (14), Iman Aqsa (5) and Mohammed Aqsa (3) were killed in the airstrikes. Their sister Asma (10) was injured. Syrian Civil Defence wrote in a post on Facebook that Iman and Mohammed were playing outside when they heard the sound of missiles fired. “The siblings fled and tried to hide in the bosom of their older sister Fatima, 14, but it was not a safe place as they thought”.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that Amer Kamal Al Basal, a nurse for A Salam Dispensary in Kfarouma, was killed as well while doing his job. They wrote that “Syrian regime forces artillery fired shells on Al Gharbi neighborhood in Kfarouma village as he arrived there to aid the injured of previous bombing by fixed-wing warplanes we believe were Russian on the same neighborhood”.
A tweet from @ajmurgent reported that “5, including two children and a woman, were killed in the Russian bombing.” However, @HadiAlabdallah reported “the death toll of the massacre of the town of Kafr Rumah in the southern countryside of Idlib increased to 7 martyrs, including two children, in addition to 8 injuries, including women.” A post from Mohammad Masri on Facebook reported that “more than 10 wounded”.
Eldorar News reported that some of those injured had amputations and a correspondent added that “the bombing targeted one of the shelters inside the town, which explains the large number of dead and wounded, stressing that most of the victims were civilians, as a reconnaissance plane monitored the targeted place, in an attempt to impede rescue operations”.
Sources were conflicted as to whether the regime or Russia were responsible.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
