Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS4338

Incident date

January 21, 2020

Location

معرة النعمان, Ma’aret Al Nu’man, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

Up to five civilians were wounded in alleged Russian airstrikes on Maarat al-Numan, according to local media.

@ShahbaPress tweeted: “Civilians were injured after raids by Russian occupation planes on the southern city of Maarat al-Numan in the southern Idlib countryside and the town of Taftanaz in the northern countryside.”

Macro Media Center said that “five civilians were wounded as a result of Russian warplanes targeting civilian homes in the western neighborhood of the city of Maarat al-Numan”.

@liveuamar specified that the location of the strikes occurred in the western neighborhood of Maarat al-Numan. A post from the Local Coordination Committee of Syria put the time of the strikes that resulted in civilian injuries at 15:32 and identified four civilians injured.

A tweet from @tLUPsIRbe9wL30s includes a video of a child crying in a destroyed home. The child is said to have been living in the house with his mother and siblings before it was reduced to rubble by the strikes and had already lost his father in strikes by the regime on their home.

Sources were conflicted as to who carried out strikes in city of Maarat al-Numan, with @resalapost attributing artillery shelling to the regime while @RadioAlKul blamed the strikes that resulted in civilian casualties on Russian warplanes. @thawrat111 identified vacuum missiles as being used in the attack.

The incident occured at 15:32:00 local time.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    4–5
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (14) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (5) [ collapse]

  • The aftermath of an alleged Russian airstrike on Ma’aret Al Nu’man, Jan 21st (via MMC)
  • The aftermath of an alleged Russian airstrike on Ma’aret Al Nu’man, Jan 21st (via MMC)
  • The aftermath of an alleged Russian airstrike on Ma’aret Al Nu’man, Jan 21st (via MMC)
  • The aftermath of an alleged Russian airstrike on Ma’aret Al Nu’man, Jan 21st (via MMC)

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    4–5
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (14) [ collapse]