Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least three civilians were killed and others were injured, one seriously, in alleged Russian or regime strikes with Kornet missiles and/or thermal missiles on the village of Al-Tuffahiya on October 11, 2021.
Zaman Al Wasl reported that three civilians were killed and another one was wounded in regime and Russian militia strikes with a “Kornet” guided missile on a group of people collecting firewood. A Facebook post by Abo Fahed Al Salhani added that they were collecting firewood so that they could sell it to make money for their families.
A tweet by @Omhajr000 provided the names of the three civilians killed: Ahmed Hadid, Ali Qurfaqi, Fadi Rostom.
A cousin of Fadi Rostom, Abo Gaafar, posted a memorial to him on Facebook that included a picture of him.
Enab Baladi identified the injured civilian as having a serious injury and quoted Civil Defense teams as transferring the civilians to the nearest medical point. Nedaa Post and other local sources referred to “several others” injured but not give a specific number.
North-Press Agency added that the group was in a forested area to collect the firewood and the commander of the coastal sector in the Civil Defense, Muhammad Darwicho, told Enab Baladi that the targeting was of people on motorcycles collecting firewood, and not of a car, as was circulated originally.
Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strikes, with the majority attributing the strikes to the regime while a few mentioned Russian involvement. A military source in the “Al-Fateh Al-Mubin” operations room explained to “Zaman Al-Wasl” that “the militias linked to Russia and stationed in the “Shalf” castle within the Jabal Al-Akrad region were the ones who targeted the civilian crowds. However, North-Press agency reported that regime forces in the Al-Qalaa area were the ones that launched missiles at Al-Tuffahiya.
The incident occured in the evening.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the vicinity of Al Tuffahiya (التفاحية), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.792773, 36.156702. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.