Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4548

Incident date

September 1, 2023

Location

المحسنلي, Al-Mohsenli, countryside of Manbij, Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria

Airwars assessment

During the morning of Friday, September 1, 2023, an artillery shelling and/or airstrikes with contested responsibility allegedly carried out by the Russian military and/or Syrian regime forces and/or the Syrian Democratic forces and/or Turkish military on the village of al-Mohsenli in the countryside of Manbij, Aleppo, killed the entire family consisting of six civilians, including at least three children, and injured eight others, including six children, a woman and a man.

The Syrian Monitoring Network for Human Rights and Twitter/X account @MMCSYR documented the killing of five children from one family and Akbar Shamal Syria provided some of their ages: Amer Khaled Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj)(15), Baraa Mohamed Al-Khaled Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj), Zainab Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj), (14), Amer Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj)(10), and Maher Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud(Al-Faraj), in the village of al-Mohsenli in the northwestern countryside of Manbij city. Akbar Shamal Syria also added an additional name, Malik Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) (18).

According to @nahermedia, all members of a family were killed as a result of the bombing while @MMCSYR reported that five children were killed, and six children, a woman, and a man were injured, all of whom were from the same family. However, a tweet from @sham_forstudies put the toll at five civilians killed and six others injured, including children.

Twitter/X user @mzmgr941 shared graphic images of the four killed children, all of them having traces of blood on their faces.

Syrian Civil Defense reported that its teams had transferred a child and a woman from Al-Amal Hospital in Ghandoura to Jarabulus Hospital, adding an image of a child with a head injury lying on a stretcher.

A post from Thamer on Facebook mourned the death of five of his wife’s nephews, who were killed in the bombardment.

Twitter/X users @nahermedia, @syr_television, and @muslim2day shared the videos of the alleged Russian airstrikes where a huge cloud of smoke rising on the horizon could be seen.

Sources were contested as to who was responsible for the attack which resulted in civilian harm though most of them attributed the strikes to the Russian military aircraft. Enab Baladi claimed that Russian SU-34 warplanes carried out airstrikes with vacuum missiles in the middle of the village. As reported by Naher media that attributed the bombing to Russian forces, the attack came after clan fighters took control of the territory which resulted in the death of a number of those tribal fighters. Enabbaladi.net also mentioned the death of one tribal fighter as a result of the attack.

According to Enab Baladi news, the artillery shelling came from areas under the joint control of the Syrian regime forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), landing in the village of al-Mohsenli in the Jarabulus countryside, east of Aleppo, with Orient News identifying the shelling as being “mortar shells”.  Akbar Shamal Syria attributed the attack to Turkish forces.

The Syrian Civil Defense (SCD) reported that the attack came during a period marked by conflicts and armed clashes between tribal fighters and the SDF in the villages of the eastern countryside of Aleppo, particularly those close to Manbij.

The incident occured in the morning.

The victims were named as:

Family members (6)

Amer Khaled Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) . عامر خالد محمد الحمود (الفرج)
15 years old male killed
Baraa Mohamed Al-Khaled Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) براء محمد الخالد الحمود (الفرج)
Age unknown male killed
Zainab Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) زينب فهد محمد الحمود (الفرج)
14 years old female killed
Amerahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) أميرهد محمد الحمود (الفرج)
10 years old male killed
Maher Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) ماهر فهد محمد الحمود (الفرج)
Age unknown male killed
Malik Fahd Al-Mohammed Al-Hamoud (Al-Faraj) مالك فهد محمد الحمود (الفرج)
18 years old male killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6
  • (3–5 children1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    6–8
  • 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 belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military, Syrian Democratic Forces, Turkish Military
  • Belligerents reported killed
    1–2

Sources (23) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (10) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @sham_forstudies
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @sham_forstudies
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @iyadhomse
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: SCD News
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Akbar Shamal Syria
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Akbar Shamal Syria
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

  • English
    /
    Original

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Syrian Democratic Forces Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Democratic Forces
  • Syrian Democratic Forces position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
  • position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Turkish Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6
  • (3–5 children1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    6–8
  • 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 belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military, Syrian Democratic Forces, Turkish Military
  • Belligerents reported killed
    1–2

Sources (23) [ collapse]