Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4573

Incident date

October 5, 2023

Location

بنش, Binnish, Idlib, Syria

Airwars assessment

At least one man was injured after alleged Syrian regime and/or Russian artillery shelling in the southern periphery of the town of Binnish, east of Idlib on October 5th, 2023.

On Facebook, Bunch Now alleged that there were “light injuries” amongst the civilian population, but multiple injuries were not reported elsewhere. Syrian Civil Defense reported that they checked the area the evening of the strike, and confirmed there were no more injured.

The strike also led to destruction of property—a school was damaged, and has been referred to as either the Ibn Khaldoun School or the Farid Qabbani School. It is possible that both schools were hit.

Identification of the belligerent is contested: while some sources attributed the  strike to regime forces or regime-affiliated militias, Abu Muhammad Binsh, in a post on Facebook, pointed to Iranian militia involvement, and a Facebook post from Coordination of the Syrian Revolution mentioned potential Russian collusion. Q Street Journal on Twitter/X reported that the belligerents were targeting “militant positions.”

Numerous sources described the artillery as “intensive” and “violent.” Another source, @rh_albasha, stated that the bombardment was of the type “considered the most violent.”

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
    1–2
  • 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
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (20) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (9) [ collapse]

  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: Aziz Asmar
  • Source: Media office in Binnish
  • Source: Media office in Binnish
  • Source: @qstreetjournal
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    School
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    1–2
  • 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
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (20) [ collapse]