Airwars assessment
During the morning of Tuesday, October 24, 2023, an alleged Russian airstrike reportedly killed six civilians, including three women, one of whom was pregnant, and at least two children, and injured up to 10 civilians in the Ahel Saraqeb camp for displaced people located on the outskirts of the village of Al-Hamamah in the Jisr Al-Shughur countryside, west of Idlib, Syria.
In its tweet at 12:08 PM Syrian Civil Defense (also known as “White Helmets”) wrote about five killed civilians and five injured civilians, including children. At the same time, Twitter/X user @HadiAlabdallah reported about six killed people in his post at 11:47 AM, attaching a picture of two infants who appear to have been killed. Journalist Muhammad Al-Faisal also mentioned that six civilians were killed while the Sada media platform informed that the total number of injured was 10.
In its tweet at 12:59 PM and on its news page, Syrian Civil Defense provided more information about the victims, namely, that most of the victims were part of the same family, with the casualties including two adult sisters, one of whom was pregnant, their grandmother as well as two infants, identified as the two sisters’ children. The five injured civilians reportedly included one infant, two children, and two elderly men. SCD also shared images of its volunteers rushing to the place of attack.
A Facebook post by Ramez Mustafa Bakir containing an image of a piece of paper with Arabic names of the victims helped Airwars identify some victims’ names.
Namely, two young siblings were killed in the attack, a girl Rahaf Khaled Al Alewi and Malak Khaled Al Alewi. Among the deaths were also Ahmad Alaa Al Alewi, apparently a brother of the injured Abdullah and Khaled (identified below), Adla Abdullah Al Hamoud, and Ghaza Ali Abdullah Al Alewi.
Among the injured civilians the sources named Housam Al Damen Al Alewi, Mustafa Najdat Hijazi, Mohammed Al Alewi, and two children – a one-year-old boy Abdullah Alaa Alewi and a three-year-old boy Khaled Alaa Alewi.
Twitter/X account of SCD shared a photo of the injured one-year-old child Abdullah Alaa Alewi with his head covered in bandages. Abdullah lost his mother, his sister (or brother), and his unborn sibling in the deadly attack, and SCD wrote heart-wrenching words about his destiny: “Unaware of what is happening around him…carrying his wounds and their bandages, with crying eyes filled with fear…waiting for the unknown…waiting for someone to tell him why Russian planes bombed his camp…why his mother and the fetus in her womb were killed…and why his sister was killed…why was his family displaced after they were displaced…why his toys were torn apart… What will his life be like after this tragedy???… Questions that the whole world may not be able to answer.”
Not less impressive was an image also shared by the White Helmets – an image of a father crying over his daughters’ and granddaughters’ death, holding in his hands a surviving but injured child.
SCD also shared two disturbing videos showing the scale of the human tragedy. One video was of a woman belonging to the same family as the victims (apparently a mother of the two perished sisters) who was loudly crying in despair, surrounded by the shrouds of her two daughters, her two grandchildren, and her mother. This woman was also interviewed by Orient News correspondent. Another video showed screams of the wounded child who was crying: “I want to see my mother, please tell me my mother.”
Last but not least, White Helmets posted images from the funeral of the victims, writing “Their shrouds are stained with their blood, covering the dirt after a journey of torment, oppression, displacement and fear.. They are not numbers… they are souls, dreams, and stories that will remain in the memory and conscience to tell the stories of Russian terrorism… and the innocents who were its victims.“
Several photos of the camp shared on social media showed it had been largely destroyed by the strike, with objects and tents buried under the rubble as well as large traces of blood. A touching image shared by SCD featured a toy bear amidst the rubble and an empty milk bottle. Syrian Civil Defense wrote: “A sad night, the toy spent inside the child’s bed, far from its owner, whose soul was kidnapped by the Russian terrorist machine, so that his trace disappeared and the milk bottle and his toy remained witnesses to the massacre.”
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Russian military.
According to Efrin News 24, Russian warplanes allegedly launched several airstrikes with vacuum bombs against the positions of the mercenaries of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, affiliated with the Turkish military in the vicinity of the village of Al-Hamamah.
Twitter/X account “Russia News” (@mog_Russ) posted a video of the strike writing that “the Russian Air Force carried out an air strike on militants in the village of Al-Hamamah in the Idlib countryside.” However, as Airwars was not able to find any direct link between this source and the Russian government, this incident has still been graded as “likely”.
The incident occured in the morning.
The victims were named as:
Family members (8)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (44) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (62) [ collapse]
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Source: @HadiAlabdallah -
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 -
Source: @SyriaCivilDefe twee
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe twee
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe twee
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Source: @SyriaCivilDefe twee
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Source: Sada media platform
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Source: Sada media platform
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Source: Sada media platform
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Source: General Media Center MMC
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Source: General Media Center MMC -
Source: General Media Center MMC
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Source: General Media Center MMC
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Source: General Media Center MMC
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Source: General Media Center MMC -
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Source: General Media Center MMC -
Source: Ramez Mustafa Bakir
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Source: Ramez Mustafa Bakir
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Source: Civil Observatory -
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Source: Civil Observatory -
Source: Civil Observatory
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Source: Civil Observatory
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Source: Efrin News 24
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Source: Qusay Ahmed
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Source: Qusay Ahmed
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Source: Qusay Ahmed
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Source: Qusay Ahmed
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Source: Qusay Ahmed
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Source: @aboalhodaalhoms
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Source: @Mnar18049738
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Source: @Mnar18049738
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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 -
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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Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
🚨⚡️ The Russian Air Force carried out an air strike on militants in the village of Al-Hamamah in the Idlib countryside.