Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4568

Incident date

October 5, 2023

Location

سرمين, Sarmin, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

On Thursday October 5th 2023, artillery strikes allegedly perpetrated by the Syrian regime and/or Russian military on the city of Sarmin injured between 10 and 15 civilians, including 3 children and 2 women.

Most sources, including Syrian Civil Defence (SCD), reported that 10 civilians, including three children and two women, were injured and shared photos and videos of children receiving treatment within ambulances run by their teams. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 15 civilians were injured in this incident, which was a part of dozens of shelling, artillery and missile incidents across the Idlib countryside. None of the injured victims have currently been named.

SCD also shared that the artillery damaged Sarmin’s residential neighbourhood infrastructure and two schools, one which was named as Hussein al Hajj Abboud. Syria TV posted that the strikes had caused civilians to be displaced from Sarmin as a result of the continuous shelling.

SOHR, alongside numerous local news sources such as Idlib Media Center, attributed the attack to the Syrian regime. The Coordination of the Syrian Revolution also suspected the involvement of the Russian military, however there have been no official statements taking responsibility from either suspected belligerent.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    School
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    10–15
  • 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.
  • Impact
    Education
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military

Sources (16) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

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

    Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: Idlib Media Center
  • 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

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    School
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    10–15
  • 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.
  • Impact
    Education
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military

Sources (16) [ collapse]