Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS4396

Incident date

February 3, 2020

Location

بنش, Binnish , Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

One civilian, a child, was reported killed and at least two civilians sustained injuries after an alleged airstrike of Syrian Armed Forces or Russian Armed Forces on the city of Binnish, in the northeastern countryside of Idlib on February 2nd, 2020.

According to multiple sources, including @syriapostnew1, warplanes attacked agricultural lands located south of the city where internally displaced persons were living. Enab Baladi reported that media activists in Binnish documented “bombing of the Syrian Air Force, near the ‘Al-Zahra Mosque’ in the city”. The mosque is located in the southern part of the city, thus corroborating syriapostnew1’s statement on the location of the airstrike.

Regarding civilian harm, all sources stated that a child was killed during the airstrike on Binnish. Firas Alhmad and Syria. Binnish identified the child as Mustafa Hamidi, a displaced boy from Sheik Idris. According to SN4HR and @anastracey the child was from the village of Mardikh. In addition, most sources noted that ‘other’ or ‘several’ civilians sustained injuries. EnabBaladi and @anastracey were the only sources to say that two civilians had been injured during the airstrike on the outskirts of the city of Binnish.

Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strike. Most sources attribute the attack to Syrian armed forces. SN4HR reported that “Syrian regime fixed- wing warplanes fired missiles on [Binnish] city”. Shaam News Network said both Russia and the Regime were responsible for the airstrike on the city of Binnish, however they consolidated the report into a larger report of strikes across the Idlib governorate. ZamanAlwasl stated that Binnish was bombed by an L39 warplane, without mentioning a specific belligerent.

Baladi Network and Step Agency reported that the warplanes used C-8 missiles to bomb the outskirts of Binnich. Multiple other sources, such as EMC and syriapostnew1, stated that warplanes with heavy machine guns carried out the attack.

The incident occured at 13:52:00 local time.

The victims were named as:

Child male killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military

Sources (20) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • Image of the child Mustafa Hamidi killed in alleged Russian or regime strikes on the city of Binnish on February 2, 2020. (Image posted by @syria55s)

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military

Sources (20) [ collapse]