Airwars assessment
Shortly before midnight of Friday, October 13th, 2023, the mother of the SCD volunteer Ahmed Mahdi Ahmadou was killed and his father was injured, but later succumbed to his injuries, in the bombardment of their house reportedly perpetrated by the Russian military in the Jabal Al Arbaeen area near Ariha city, in the southern countryside of Idlib.
The Syrian Civil Defense (SCD) reported in multiple videos and photos the death of Mrs. Hanaa Sarmani and the injuries of her husband, 55-year-old Hajj Mahdi Ahmadou, who were found by the civil defense members that night.
They were the parents of SCD’s volunteer Ahmed Mahdi Ahmadou, who was injured in the incident too. The Civil Defense members alongside Ahmed rescued Hajj Mahdi and recovered Mrs. Hanaa’s body from the rubble. A photo and a video of multiple people looking under the rubble and taking Ahmed’s dad to the hospital on a stretcher during the night were posted by SCD.
Ahmed was seemingly supportive of his dad in the ambulance and reportedly affected by his mom’s death. SCD also shared a picture and video of the grief-stricken Ahmed embracing the body of his mother in the ambulance and crying in despair. He could barely walk out of the ambulance as one of his feet seemed to be injured. He, a man with black curly hair, was wearing a black t-shirt and pants during the rescue operation. In a video, he was being carried by other volunteers while the rescue team was loading his father into the ambulance.
Syrian Civil Defense shared the heart-wrenching story of Ahmed finding his mother dead told by Mahmoud Othman: “When we arrived at the place, the house was completely destroyed, and we began searching. Under the rubble, there was no soul or spirit, and our colleague Ahmed was with us. He was strong throughout the work. He supported his father in our hands. When we saved his father, I felt that the spirit had returned to him and he remained strong. We continued the work and flew over us at any moment, transforming from rescuers to victims. When we found his mother dead under the rubble, in that moment he was transformed. The hero is a small child, a child who cries under his mother’s lap, and hugs her as if he were a four-year-old… the mother… the mother.”
The pictures of Arieh’s Facebook account added that Haji Mahdi was well-known among the community for his generosity and good manners. The Facebook account posted a photo of Hajj Mahdi being treated in the hospital – an elderly man with dark skin, a black beard, and short black hair, was wearing black pants, a gray T-shirt, and a black sweater. When the doctors attended to him, he was completely covered by the dust from the rubble.
Unfortunately, Haji Mahdi Ahmadou died due to his injuries on Monday, October 16, as reported by the Syrian Civil Defense Twitter/X account.
Al Jazeera Syria posted a video showing a house that had been destroyed to rubble while the SCD website and Abdul Aziz Ahmed Qitaz shared images of the same. In the video, sunglasses and pieces of clothes that used to belong to the family members can be seen.
The sources identified the belligerents to be the Russian military. However, the sources differed regarding the nature of the bombardment – while according to most of the sources, including the SCD, Al Jazeera Syria, Orient News, and others, the Russian military reportedly carried out two airstrikes in the area, Twitter/X user @VedengAgency1 claimed that this was artillery shelling. At least one source, Qassem Al-Fourati, mentioned vacuum missiles being used in the attack.
The incident occured around midnight.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
Summary
Sources (27) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (31) [ 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
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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: SCD news
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Source: SCD news
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Source: SCD news
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Source: Pictures of Arieh -
Source: Abdul Aziz Ahmed Qitaz posT
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Source: Abdul Aziz Ahmed Qitaz posT
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Source: Abdul Aziz Ahmed Qitaz posT
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Source: Abdul Aziz Ahmed Qitaz posT
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Source: Abdul Aziz Ahmed Qitaz posT
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Source: @Xd60euW24gEtWPp
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Source: @bdalbast775482
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe
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