Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS4532

Incident date

November 17, 2020

Location

سرجة, Sarja, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

35.5816284, 36.9212293 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

One civilian, a man, was reported killed and one civilian sustained injuries as the result of an alleged Russian and/or Regime strike on the village of Sarja in the southern countryside of Idlib on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

Regarding civilian harm, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported that “A 30-year-old Syrian citizen, named as Munif Ahmad Naddaf, died when the roof of his home in Sarja village in the southern suburbs of Idlib governorate collapsed on November 17, 2020.” SNHR quoted local activist according to whom “the roof had been severely damaged by intensive bombardment of the village by Syrian-Russian Alliance forces in previous military campaigns, including the dropping of barrel bombs weighing between 50 and 1,000 kilograms.”

The Syrian Civil Defence and Thiqa News agency provided that a civilian was killed an another civilian sustained injuries when a cracked roof, resulting from previous Regime bombing, collapsed on Tuesaday evening, November 17. According to the SCD, this was the second incident that day in which a civilian died because a destabilized roof collapsed.

Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strike, with @dbOFRYEU7XqMrTc attributing the strike to the russian Armed Forces while @Khaled_Sheikh1 and @thiqanewsagency referred to the Regime as having carried out the attack on Sarja that caused the roof to collapse. The SNHRnamed both forces as responsible for the strike.

The incident allegedly took place in the evening.

The incident occured in the evening.

The victims were named as:

30 years old male killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Accidents related to conflict
  • 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
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (9) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • Syrian Civil Defence teams carrying a victim after a civilian home in Sarja village collapsed on November 17th, 2020, following alleged Russian or Syrian regime strikes on an unknown date (via SNHR).

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Sarja (سرجة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.5816284, 36.9212293. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

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
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Accidents related to conflict
  • 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
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (9) [ collapse]