During the early afternoon of Saturday, 30th November 2024, two civilian men named Mohammad al-Mustafa and Mohammad Fares al-Sa’id (Abu Ahmad) were killed and a number of civilians were injured as a result of artillery shelling and/or airstrikes launched on the village of Kansafra in Jabal al-Zawiya, south of Idlib, Syria, by the Syrian regime forces and/or Russian military.

Initially, the sources reported only about the death of Mohammad al-Mustafa. The Syrian Civil Defence reported on X/Twitter at 1:57 PM of the same day that the man was transferred by their team to the hospital, where he sadly passed away from a serious injury. The body was then returned to his town.

Another civilian named Mohammad Fares al-Sa’id (Abu Ahmad) was killed in the same attack. Friends and family mourned his death: in particular, Mostafa Alhalabi, al-Sa’id’s nephew, expressed his grief in a Facebook post, writing “To the sons and relatives of the martyr, may God reward you greatly and console you and inspire you with patience and solace.”

Facebook account “Kansafra is an immortal painting” also grieved the death of Mohammad al-Sa’id, calling him a “beautiful” martyr and sharing his picture. He was a middle-aged man pictured sitting on a couch in grey clothes.

The Syrian Civil Defense posted a video on Facebook showing how the body of an injured man was being brought into an ambulance by SCD volunteers and other men. The man had a head injury. The volunteers asked a man in a car nearby about other possible injuries, and he told them there was another injury, but he did not know his name. Later, the White Helmets volunteers were shown talking to a grieving and crying man, telling him to pray for the seriously injured man who was taken to the hospital.

The Damascus Countryside Reporters Network (DCRN) posted on Facebook a picture of the shelling in the vicinity of the town of Kansafra shortly before the killing of Mohammad al-Mustafa.

Where sources identified the belligerent, most of the sources attributed responsibility for the strike to the Syrian regime. However, the Syrian Revolution Archive and other sources also held the Russian military accountable. Therefore, Airwars has graded both Strike Status and Civilian Harm Status as Contested.

The sources differed on the nature of the attack. Some claimed that it was an artillery attack by the Syrian regime forces, while others alleged that it was an airstrike by the Syrian regime and/or Russian military.