Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least one civilian, a child, was killed and at least two other civilians, a woman and one to two children, were injured in alleged Russian or regime airstrikes on Mantef village on June 22, 2021.
According to Syrian Network for Human Rights, “a 17-year-old girl, named as Wafaa Abdul Hamid Qassoum, was killed while two other civilians were injured when Syrian regime artillery forces used shells to target Mentef village”.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that “a female civilian was killed and her child was wounded in a rocket fire” while various other sources gave different numbers for wounded. Syrian Civil Defense identified “the killing of a woman, and the injury of a woman and a two-month-old child” while @ZaitunAgency gave the account that “a woman was killed and two children were injured”. @anasanas84 tweeted that “a two-month-old girl was injured and another 19-year-old was injured”.
The woman referred to in these and other sources as being killed seems to be the same as the girl listed above, Wafaa Abdul Hamid Qassoum, but since she is under the age of 18, she is classified as a child by Airwars. Images provided by @Omar_Madaniah and @Gurbtwatan show the same baby from this pictures with injuries from the strikes.
A tweet from @abuhuzaifa_ includes a picture that is identified as the two children of someone killed in the strikes on Mantef – the post does not identify their mother by name but may be referring to Wafaa Abdul Hamid Qassoum.
@Gurbtwatan reported that a woman was preparing lunch for her husband when she heard the sound of shelling and then raced to grab her three month-old baby who was napping and run outside of the house. Zaman Al Wasl confirmed that this woman was Wafaa Abdul Hamid Qassoum, who was “trying to escape from her home with her daughter to a nearby underground shelter. “Wafaa” was hit by shrapnel, and her fall to the ground did not prevent her from holding onto her 3-month-old daughter, Jana. He added that shrapnel in the thigh affected the girl, who was taken to hospitals in Idlib governorate for treatment, while her mother was buried in the town’s cemetery.”
@abdalazezketaz pointed out that civilian homes were destroyed in the bombing.
Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible, with Syrian network for Human Rights attributed the shelling to the regime while @EdlibNN blamed Russia. Syrian Civil Defense did not distinguish between whether the regime or Russia was responsible.
The incident occured in the afternoon.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
Geolocation notes (8) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the village of Mantef (منطف). Analyzing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed down the location of this strike at these exact coordinates: 35.777234, 36.651806.
Summary
Sources (26) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (12) [ collapse]
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Image of Civil Defense crews removing the body of a deceased civilian killed in airstrikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Syrian Network for Human Rights)
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Image of Civil Defense crews removing the body of a deceased civilian killed in airstrikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Syrian Civil Defense via Facebook)
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Damage to a building in Mantef sustained from bombings on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Syrian Civil Defense via Facebook)
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Damage to a building in Mantef sustained from bombings on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Syrian Civil Defense via Facebook)
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"Their mother was martyred today by the bombing of the Russian occupation and Assad militias on their house in the countryside of Idlib." The identity of their mother is unclear. (Image posted by @abuhuzaifa_ )
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Image of a baby who was injured in the strikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by @Omar_Madaniah)
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Image of a baby who was injured in the strikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by @Gurbtwatan)
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Image of Civil Defense crews removing the body of a deceased civilian killed in airstrikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by @abdalazezketaz)
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Image of a baby who was injured in the strikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Zaman Al Wasl)
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A blanket and clothes from the baby that was injured in strikes on the town of Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Zaman Al Wasl)
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Image of Civil Defense crews removing the body of a deceased civilian killed in airstrikes on Mantef on June 22, 2021. (Image posted by Zaman Al Wasl)