Shortly before 9:30 PM on the evening of Thursday, November 28th, 2024, a civilian was killed and at least one male child and up to two children were injured as a result of an airstrike which was allegedly carried out by Russian military and/or Syrian regime forces with the reported use of vacuum missiles. The incident took place in the city of Al-Atareb, to the west of Aleppo and within the Aleppo Governorate, Syria, and resulted also in the heavy destruction of residential buildings.

A young man, Abdullah Ahmad Fahim, died the next day as a result of wounds received from the airstrike. Facebook user @Wafeyat posted a tribute to Abdullah, describing him as a “young man” and attaching a selfie. The selfie showed a bearded young man, pictured from the chest upwards and wearing a khaki-style shirt. A second photo uploaded on Facebook by @Al atareb showed Fahim wearing a black t-shirt and with a thinner beard.

On Twitter, @SyriaCivilDefe reported the incident at 9:30, noting that a child was also injured in the incident, although no further information has been provided at the time of writing. The tweet was accompanied by four images. The first photograph showed the situation within a medical room. A stricken patient is pictured, but their identity is not clear. The three other photos all depicted the material damage, with blown-out walls and rubble pictured on a road. The third photo showed a confused teenager in front of individuals moving the rubble. Posts on Twitter/X  by @snhr, @Almohrar and @syr_rev_archive also reported that at least one child was injured as a result of the airstrike.

Twitter/X account “Syria moment by moment” (@Almohrar1) reported the injury of two children without providing further details.

A Facebook post by @Hokoma reported on the deployments of the [Al-Atareb] Police Department following the incident. Six photos uploaded with the post depicted armed personnel patrolling the street to prevent any incidents with those displaced after the strikes.

A series of posts on Twitter/X by users @ibnqasuoon, @Almohrar and @anasanas84 and on Facebook by @Afreen and @Rusya reported the belligerent to be Russian military forces. On Facebook, @Dr-sepahi Alabodi and @Abo al hasan attributed vacuum missiles which “targeted” the city of Al-Atareb to the Russian military and Syrian regime forces, but as this still mentions Russian forces as consistent with all other sources, this has been graded as a “likely” Russian strike.

Several sources, including Twitter/X users @ibnqasuoon and @Qasemqt, claimed that the Russian military used vacuum missiles in the attack. The tweets were accompanied by a video where explosions were seen and heard.