(Previous Incident Code: R4662)

During the evening of Tuesday, February 20, 2024, an artillery strike with contested responsibility allegedly carried out by the Syrian regime and/or Russian military and/or Iranian-backed militant groups in the town of Afes in eastern Idlib countryside, Syria, killed two adult sisters and injured their elderly mother.

According to journalist Ahmed Shibli (@Ahmad_1alshble), the area where the attack occurred was a residential neighborhood and the strike directly hit a residential house.

Initially, it was reported by multiple sources, such as Afis News on Facebook, that one woman, Asmaa Ahmad al-Masri, was killed. Several sources reported that she died and that her sister and mother were severely injured. Later on, various sources, such as journalist Ahmed Shibli, reported that Asmaa’s sister, Sukayna Ahmad al-Masri had also died. Their 79-year-old mother, Al-Hajjah Rasmia al-Masri, was injured by shrapnel.

According to Twitter/X account of the Syrian Civil Defence (also known as the “White Helmets”), the SCD team that responded to the scene confirmed no other injured people. The tweet was accompanied by the image showing Rasmia al-Masri at the hospital bed surrounded by a doctor and SCD volunteer.

In another emotional message on Twitter/X, the SCD conveyed the tragedy of the elderly mother losing her daughter: “Between the wrinkles of time and her grief over the loss of her daughter and the injury of her second daughter, and her pain from the wounds of shrapnel from the artillery shelling of the regime forces that targeted their house in the town of Afes, east of #Idlib, this evening, Tuesday, February 20, the story of “Rasmiya” is embodied, as a Syrian mother bearing the burden of long years of war, oppression, loss, and steadfastness.”

A video shared by Al-Jazeera Syria on Facebook showed responders arriving at the house where the al-Masri family was, rescuing the mother who was injured, and transporting a body covered in blankets. The house had also sustained significant damage. The video also showed the scene at the hospital, with a man weeping at the sight of the body transported from the site of the attack.

Where sources identified the belligerent, multiple sources, including the Syrian Civil Defence, claimed that the artillery strike was carried out by the Syrian regime forces. However, some sources, such as “Idlib platform” Facebook account and Twitter/X user @Ahmad_1alshble blamed Hezbollah and “Iranian militias” while Twitter/X user @ahmedal57714043 also held the Russian military accountable, lamenting: “Our elderly mother was not spared the crimes of Russia and Iranian militias.” Therefore, Airwars has graded both the strike status and civilian harm status of the incident as contested.