On the evening of Wednesday, November 27, 2024, 11 civilians, including five children and two women, most of whom were from one family, were injured when artillery and rocket shelling allegedly carried out by Syrian regime forces and/or Russian military struck Al Atareb city, west of Aleppo, Syria. The attack, which reportedly involved 300mm 9M55K rockets carrying internationally banned 9N210 and 9N235 cluster munitions, hit residential areas and a market in the city center, causing widespread destruction to civilian homes and infrastructure.

The Syrian Civil Defense (@SyriaCivilDefe) described the event as a “systematic bombardment by regime forces and Russia,” emphasizing that the attack led to “the injury of 11 civilians, including five children and two women, and the destruction of homes and the city’s popular market area.” Their teams documented extensive structural damage and worked to remove unexploded remnants of cluster munitions from the attack site.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) condemned the shelling, confirming that “rocket launchers belonging to the Syrian regime forces fired several rockets carrying internationally banned cluster munitions.”

Tamer Turkmane, a prominent Syrian journalist, provided a harrowing account, stating that “11 people, mostly from one family, were injured in a single evening, and among them were several children.” Eye on Syria, a local monitoring group, highlighted the indiscriminate nature of the shelling, reporting that “cluster bombs struck homes and civilian areas indiscriminately, leaving behind chaos and destruction.”

@SyriaCivilDefe shared on Twitter/X an image related to the event. The picture showed a young child in the midst of receiving medical care for their injuries. The child, lying on their back, grimaced in pain as multiple medical professionals worked urgently around them. The focus of the image was on the child’s face, where a deep cut was visible on the forehead, red and swollen, with surrounding bruising emphasizing the force of the impact.

Atarib media office shared an image of the alleged event on Facebook. The image portrayed a harrowing scene of four injured children in what appeared to be a hospital or emergency room, each bearing visible wounds and signs of distress. In the foreground, a toddler with a bandaged head sat upright, their small frame draped in a dusty gray sweater dotted with blood stains near the chest and neck. The bandage around their head was thick, indicating a severe injury, while their downcast expression and still posture suggested exhaustion and pain. Next to them, a slightly older girl in a burnt orange sweater sat with her hands resting on her knees. Her face was streaked with dirt and dried blood, and her vacant gaze conveyed the trauma of the ordeal she had endured.

Behind these two children, another young girl lay on the bed, partially propped up. Her face was pale, and her closed eye was covered with a large white bandage, concealing what appeared to have been a significant facial injury. Her clothing, a maroon sweater, was bloodied and dusty, further underscoring the violence of the attack. Beside her, another girl in a bright yellow jacket reclined on the same bed. Her body appeared limp, and her face was turned away, suggesting she was either unconscious or too weak to sit up. Her legs, covered in gray trousers, were coated in dust, and her pink socks stood out against the somber tones of the scene.

Facebook user Avito El Jadida shared another picture related to the event on the social media platform. The picture depicted a close-up of a child wrapped tightly in a gray blanket, her head bandaged and resting on a pillow-like surface. The child’s large, expressive eyes were wide open, conveying a mixture of fear, pain, and exhaustion. Bloodstains were visible on the white bandage wrapped around their head, hinting at a severe head wound sustained during the attack. A deep cut on the child’s cheek was surrounded by smeared blood, emphasizing the extent of their injuries. The red stains also extended to the blanket near the child’s mouth and chin, underscoring the severity of the trauma they endured.

Photographs and footage shared by Syrian Civil Defense and Eye on Syria showed destroyed homes, a shattered marketplace, and streets covered in debris, with emergency responders carefully handling unexploded ordnance left behind by the attack. One particularly striking image showed a White Helmets member removing a cluster munition from a damaged home, a chilling reminder of the continued use of internationally banned weapons in civilian-populated areas.

@SyriaCivilDefe in a tweet and Atarib media office in a social media post shared pictures showing the infrastructural damages produced by the alleged attack.

The series of images portrayed a harrowing account of the devastation inflicted upon homes and communities. A residential building, once sturdy, stood scarred and battered by violence, its brick facade punctured by large, irregular holes. The jagged edges of the openings revealed shattered bricks and mortar crumbling away, while a gaping window frame sat twisted and empty, exposing the fragile interior to the glaring blue sky. Inside the building, the destruction was even more chilling. A living room, once a place of comfort, was reduced to a chaotic mess. The floor was buried under thick layers of dust and debris, with broken bricks and plaster covering every surface. A small stove stood tilted and damaged amid the rubble, surrounded by patterned cushions and decorative seating that were barely visible beneath the destruction. The walls, marred by cracks and holes, bore the unmistakable scars of artillery fire. The light streaming through the shattered windows cruelly illuminated the wreckage, casting stark shadows across the scene.

Another perspective of the same living room revealed extensive structural damage, with large holes in the walls allowing harsh sunlight to pour in, highlighting the dust that hung heavy in the air. Shattered glass lay scattered across the floor, reflecting faint glimmers of light amidst the rubble. Furniture lay overturned and broken, while decorative cushions, still bearing their intricate patterns, lay abandoned in the ruins. The room, now a hollow shell, stood as a painful reminder of the violence that had invaded this home. In the adjacent kitchen, once a bustling hub of family life, destruction reigned. Countertops were covered in dust, shards of broken glass, and fragments of tiles. Floral-patterned walls bore gaping holes where explosions had ripped through, leaving cracked and jagged surfaces. Utensils and shattered jars were scattered across the floor, while broken cooking pots lay buried beneath the chaos. The remnants of domesticity, like a curtain hanging limply beneath the counter, only emphasized the stark disarray and violence inflicted upon the space.

In another view, the kitchen revealed even greater destruction, with a large hole blown through the wall, allowing light to flood in and expose the shattered remains of tiles and plaster. A twisted window frame hung awkwardly, while floral-patterned tiles surrounding the impact site were fractured and incomplete. The room felt utterly gutted, a painful symbol of the sudden and violent intrusion into everyday life. A close-up captured the intimate details of the destruction, with household items scattered among the debris—shattered glass, fractured plates, and splintered plaster mixed haphazardly on the floor. A tray lay overturned, its contents spilled and mingling with the rubble. Faint traces of blood on a piece of fabric suggested the human toll that accompanied the structural devastation, while a patterned cushion lay heavily soiled and partially buried, a poignant reminder of the lives that once filled the space.

The exterior of another residential building revealed the full scope of the destruction. The lower portion of the structure bore a massive, jagged hole, exposing the interior to the harsh light of day. Surrounding the hole, the walls were cracked and crumbling, while the rubble below consisted of large chunks of concrete and twisted metal that spilled outward onto the ground. The building’s upper floors, though still standing, showed signs of stress, their lifeless windows overlooking the devastation below. Scattered among the wreckage were remnants of the munitions used to inflict this destruction. Cylindrical fragments, scorched and covered in dust, lay among the debris, their battered appearance bearing witness to the explosive force they had unleashed. These remnants served as chilling reminders of the deliberate targeting of this residential area.

In one image, a silhouetted figure moved cautiously through the ruins of a living room, their shadow stretching across the rubble-strewn floor. The holes in the walls, irregular and stark, allowed beams of sunlight to pierce the space, illuminating the dust-filled air. A stove and scattered belongings lay abandoned, while the remnants of patterned cushions and rugs hinted at the life that once thrived here. The quiet movement of the figure amid the destruction underscored the human cost of the devastation. Each image painted a haunting picture of lives disrupted and homes destroyed, with the juxtaposition of domestic elements and chaotic destruction serving as a stark reminder of the fragility of safety and the profound impact of violence on civilian spaces.

The Syrian Civil Defence (SCD) in a Facebook post shared images depicting the aftermath of strikes, with a focus on the remnants of explosive devices.

One image, a cylindrical metallic object, most likely a large artillery shell, lay embedded within rubble. It rested amid shattered tiles and pulverized concrete, with jagged edges suggesting the tremendous force of impact. The orange-hued tiles, once decorative, were now cracked and layered with debris, highlighting the indiscriminate nature of the destruction.

Another image captured a member of the Syrian Civil Defense, commonly known as the White Helmets, engaged in the meticulous task of removing an unexploded ordnance from a cratered road. The pavement surrounding the ordnance was scorched and fractured, bearing the marks of explosive heat and force. The worker, clad in a blue protective vest and helmet, handled the dangerous device with precision tools, underscoring the life-threatening risks involved in clearing post-strike hazards.

Another photograph, a metallic fragment of another shell was visible amidst shattered building materials. The cylindrical structure was warped, with sharp protrusions and fragmented components scattered across the ground. The surrounding area, strewn with chunks of plaster and broken tiles, was evidence of the explosive’s devastating penetration into a once-contained indoor space.

Another image presented a close-up of a smaller unexploded device, identifiable as a cluster submunition. Its silver casing bore distinct markings, including serial numbers, and its tail fins suggested it was designed for aerial deployment. Lying in a patch of grass alongside a ruler for scale, the submunition’s deadly purpose contrasted starkly with the natural greenery surrounding it.

When belligerents were identified, sources consistently attributed responsibility for the attack to Syrian regime forces and the Russian military. The use of internationally banned cluster munitions in a populated urban area drew condemnation from human rights groups, further highlighting the ongoing civilian harm in northwestern Syria due to indiscriminate shelling.

The incident occured in the evening.