Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

R4584

Incident date

October 6, 2023

Location

بداما, Badama, Idlib, Idlib Governorate, Syria

Airwars assessment

On October 6th, 2023 a missile strike, allegedly launched by Russian warplanes and/or Syrian regime artillery shelling, hit the rural town of Badama near the city Jisr al-Shughur, west of Idlib (during the day, according to photographic evidence shared on social media), resulting in the injury of 14 civilians, including four children and four women.

The strike affected especially the Al-Shakhaib farm, as reported by Syria TV. The Syrian Civil Defence (aka White Helmets), who provided assistance and rescue after the attack, reported on their Twitter account that 14 civilians had been injured, including 4 women and 4 children. One of these children is named “Muhammad”, and he was wounded in the head and left unconscious by the impact – described as “Muhammad does not know why they put gauze on his head and how he was injured. He sleeps from his fatigue and pain with his innocent face scratched by missile fragments, and the colors of blood mixed with the fabric of his nice clothes.”

According to @dulama_1, the strike also hit the house of a quadriplegic elderly man, portrayed lying on his bed with debris surrounding his room, in a photo circulating online.

While the majority of sources attributed the civilian casualties to Russian airstrikes, Ariha TV blamed artillery shelling from the Syrian regime checkpoints. Multiple sources, including @Ahmad_1alshble, mentioned that vacuum missiles were used in the attack.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    14
  • 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
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected attackers
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (24) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (20) [ collapse]

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

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

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

    Source: @dulama_1
  • Source: @Ahmad_1alshble
  • Source: @Ahmad_1alshble
  • Source: @zainaldinmaham1
  • Source: @altwylll
  • Source: @altwylll
  • Source: Idlib
  • Source: Idlib
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Al Jazeera - 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.

  • 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
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    14
  • 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
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected attackers
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (24) [ collapse]