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:
Summary
Sources (31) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (33) [ collapse]
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe -
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe -
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe -
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe -
Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
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Source: Darat Azza
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Source: Darat Azza
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Source: Darat Azza
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Source: Darat Azza
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Source: Darat Azza
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Source: Darat Azza
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Source: Ahmed Abdel Malik
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Source: Bench services
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Source: Obada
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Source: @Rian_almasri -
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Source: @Rian_almasri -
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