Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4578

Incident date

October 5–6, 2023

Location

دارة عزة, Darat Izza, west of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria

Airwars assessment

From the evening of Thursday, October 5th, 2023, and during the morning of Friday, October 6th, 2023, the repeated artillery bombardment with contested responsibility allegedly perpetrated by the Syrian regime forces and/or regime-associated militias or Russian and/or Iranian militias struck a residential neighborhood in Darat Izza, west of Aleppo, Syria, reportedly killing up to four civilians, including three children, and injuring  up to 15 civilians. Two women, six children, and a Civil Defense volunteer were among the injured.

Syrian Civil Defense (SCD) reported that the first attack was in the evening of Thursday, but the repeated missile bombardment allegedly happened also after midnight, hitting the city’s residential neighborhoods, the popular market, a mosque, and a gas station.

Many videos on social media captured the artillery strikes. On the videos shared by Al-Jazzera and Syria TV sounds of explosions can be heard. A journalist Anas Maarawi (@anasanas84) reported at 12:42 AM on Friday that the bombing already lasted for two hours and was not stopping, while more than 40 missiles and shells were used. He shared a video with the sounds of explosions where the prayer “Ya Latif” (Gracious Allah) used when facing something terrifying could be heard.

A Twitter/X user Mix World (@alking14399969) shared a video of bombardement at 1:29 AM, noting that “the hysterical bombardement of the city” was stiil continuing. A journalist Muhammad Abu Al-Huda Al-Homsi (@aboalhodaalhoms) posted a striking video where he himself had to hide from the artillery while reporting.

Last but not least, a reportage by Syrian journalist M.Faisal (@mhmdfaisel) featured an elderly man who was a witness of the strike. He said the following: “I fell asleep for five minutes, and my neighbours have called me. Come, your shop was bombed. I came and saw my shop bombed. I can only say thank God, in any case”.

According to Syrian Civil Defense, the bombardment led to the death of three civilians and injujries of 15, including two women and six children. SCD also reported that its volunteer Mahmoud Al-Hassan was injured while in his home. In addition, SCD shared images of the inspected places affected by the strikes where rubble and burnt cars can be seen and images of the wounded civilians being treated in the hospital. Darat Azza also shared a video on Facebook showing the injured civilians, including children, being treated in a hospital in Darat Azza.

The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR) reported four civilian deaths, where three of these were reported to be children, and seven injuries from the “intense artillery shelling carried out by members of the regime forces”. Syria TV also reported about four casualties. Twitter/X user @Rian_almasri also reported four killed civilians, sharing the graphic images of the dead bodies.

Missile strikes were reported to have destroyed civilian homes and shops, evidenced by images in the Facebook post by Darat Azza. Ariha TV reported on October 6 that there was a large evacuation from the city because of the attacks.

The majority of reports, with one exception, claimed the civilians were targeted; however, a Twitter/X account @SAMSyria0 claimed the strike targeted the city as it was gathering Al Nusra militants.

Whilst a majority of reports attributed the strike to the Syrian regime forces and/or regime associated militia, a Facebook user Ibrahim Radwan attributed all the recent bombings in Syria, including the Darat Izza strikes, to the militias of Iran and Russia. Therefore, the Airwars has graded both Strike Status and Civilian Harm as Contested.

The exact local time of the incident is unknown, but it was reported that the strikes started in the evening of October 5 and continued at least till 1:29 AM on October 6.

The incident occured during the night.

The victims were named as:

Mahmoud Al-Hassan محمود الحسن
Age unknown male SCD volunteer injured

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Marketplace, Religious Institution
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3 – 4
  • (2–3 children1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    7–15
  • 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
    Food,Healthcare
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime, Iranian Military

Sources (31) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (33) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

    Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
  • Source: Darat Azza
  • Source: Darat Azza
  • Source: Darat Azza
  • Source: Darat Azza
  • Source: Darat Azza
  • Source: Darat Azza
  • Source: Ahmed Abdel Malik
  • Source: Bench services
  • Source: Obada
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

    Source: @Rian_almasri
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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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

Iranian Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Marketplace, Religious Institution
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3 – 4
  • (2–3 children1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    7–15
  • 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
    Food,Healthcare
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime, Iranian Military

Sources (31) [ collapse]