Shortly before 3:22 PM on Sunday, 1st December 2024, at least 11 identified civilians and reportedly up to 12 civilians, including three media representatives and three medical personnel, were killed and up to 23 civilians injured in four reported airstrikes with alleged responsibility attributed the Russian military, Syrian regime forces, or both, hitting the front entrance to the hospital of Aleppo University and university square in Aleppo, northern Syria.

The attack struck key civilian infrastructure, including Aleppo University Hospital.

According to Halab Today TV, the attack was described as a “massacre committed by Assad forces’ warplanes.” The Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, posted on its Twitter/X account at 3:22 PM, marking the tweet as “urgent”: “12 civilians killed and 23 others injured in the initial toll of a massacre committed by Assad regime warplanes… Our teams responded to the attack and treated a number of the injured and continued search and rescue operations.” Photos they shared showed mangled cars, ambulances, and fire engines scrambling through the debris. The Facebook account “Megaphone” claimed that there were four airstrikes in the vicinity of Aleppo University Hospital.

Other sources confirmed a joint responsibility. Alfuratajans stated, “Russian aircraft bombed Aleppo University Hospital,” while Megaphone contests the number of civilians by reporting that “Syrian and Russian regime aircraft raided the vicinity of Aleppo University Hospital, killing 8 civilians, 4 fighters and photographers… and injuring 23 people,” citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Here Aleppo News Network wrote about “dozens of martyrs and wounded” as a result of the attack.

The victims, later named in local and social media posts, included civilians from various walks of life. Among the victims were three media representatives, mentioned by some sources as journalists while by others as photographers – Ahmed al-Omar, Alaa al-Abrash, and Jamil al-Abdullah. According to some sources, they were working for the Ministry of Information in the “Syrian Salvation Government” (a shadow government formed by the opposition force Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and operating mostly in the Idlib province), while Syriaaht wrote that two of them were affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

On Facebook, “Ministry of Information – Syrian Salvation Government” mourned their deaths, writing, “With hearts that believe in Allah’s will and destiny, the Ministry of Information mourns to the sons of the Syrian revolution the martyrdom of a group of our best photographers in the Government Media Directorate – Ahmed Al-Omar, Alaa Al-Abrash, and Jamil Al-Abdullah, who ascended to be with their Lord in the city of Aleppo as a result of an airstrike by the criminal regime while performing their duty in field coverage to convey the truth.”

Euphrates Post wrote on Facebook that journalists Ahmed al-Omar and Alaa al-Abrash were killed as a result of the alleged Russian forces’ bombing of the university hospital in Aleppo while they were covering the events there.

Facebook user Ahmad M Alabdala mourned the death of his two “media colleagues”, Ahmad and Alaa, adding their pictures. Alaa was a young man with dark hair and a dark trimmed beard wearing a grey shirt. In the image, he was wearing headphones and holding a camera in his hands. Ahmad was also a young man with a thick, dark beard dressed in a grey shirt and a black jacket.

Alaa’s brother, Ammar al-Abrash, grieved his death in a Facebook post, writing, “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing, and enter among My servants and enter My Paradise. My brother Alaa al-Abrash has passed away.”

Media worker Qusay al-Masry also lamented the deaths of his colleagues, writing: “I have been waiting to meet you to share the joy of liberation together.”

Remembering Ahmed, Alaa and Jamil, Twitter/X user @OmarMuhammadAr noted that “covering the University Hospital in Aleppo cost them their lives because of the bombing of the hospital yard by the Assad… aircraft.”

In a Facebook post, Sham News Agency offered its sincere condolences and sympathy for the martyrdom of journalist Jamil al-Abdullah, who used to work in the Ministry of Information and was killed while performing his professional duty. The statement also condemned the alleged “treacherous targeting by the criminal regime’s air force.” The post contained the image of the late Jamil, who was a young man wearing a black sports jacket.

Victims of the strike included an employee of the University’s Engineering Institute, Abdul Qader Kayali, a young man described by the Aleppo News and Municipal Stadium Neighborhood page as “well-mannered and polite,” and the only child of his family who died while trying to buy bread for his family. A post from the University’s Engineering Institute mourned his loss: “Pray for him to be granted mercy and forgiveness.” Both posts contained an image of Abdul, a young man with brown hair, large brown eyes, and a moustache who is pictured with his left palm forward in greeting.

Medical personnel were also killed in the strike. The attack killed the Yemeni doctor Abdul Fattah al-Yafei, who was mentioned in the Facebook post by Adam.alhomsi. The post had a photo of him – he was a middle-aged man with a long grey beard. According to the inscription, he was killed “while attending humanitarian aid after the bombing of the field hospital where the wounded were treated.”

The Al-Rahma Hospital family mourned the loss of the two representatives of the medical personnel, Muhammad Mahmoud al-Issa and ambulance driver Ghassan al-Qadi, “with great sadness and sorrow and faith in God’s will and destiny.” The Facebook post contained images of the two men. Muhammad was a middle-aged man with dark hair and a thick dark beard dressed in a black T-shirt, while Ghassan was also a middle-aged man with a thick and long dark beard with grey hair.

Tamer Damas wrote Ghassan Al-Qadi, “May God have mercy on him and on all the martyrs”, adding a graphic picture of his dead body with blood over his face. According to the Facebook post by Jomhoriet Halab, Ghassan Waleed Qadi was killed in the university yard, and “nobody was with him.”

Another victim of the strike, Dr. Watin Muhammad al-Sarout, was mentioned in the Facebook post by Hamouya, who wrote, “Al-Fatiha to the soul of my martyred friend, Dr. Watin Muhammad Al-Sarout. She was martyred while responding to the humanitarian call in Aleppo.”

Mazen Hajji Khalaf, a fifth-year student in the Department of Food Sciences, died as a result of the injury he sustained in the university yard. His death was mourned by fellow agriculture students, as seen in the Facebook post by Ola Mohammed. She also added an image of the late Mazen – a bearded young man dressed in a black T-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers.

Ahmad Alkhalaf also grieved the death of Mazen, who was his cousin and a “son of the late Abdul Qader Al-Khalaf.”

Facebook user Omar Hawwash mourned the death of his brother, Mustafa Hawash, and wished him to be “accepted in Heaven.” He added an image of the late Mustafa, who was an elderly man with short grey hair dressed in a suit in a black-and-white picture.

A young man, Jaafar Muhammad Sagheer, was also among the victims of the deadly attack. Initially, he was reported missing in a post by Sidet Alzohor, who added his image of a young man wearing glasses and a red shirt. The Facebook post by Yousef, however, spoke about the death of Jafaar from “the rocket that hit the university square.”

Among 23 reported injuries, Airwars researchers have identified the name of the one injured, a young man, Asif Sabra. Ahmad Sobih wrote in a Facebook post, “Brother, friend and colleague Asif Sabra was injured in Aleppo University Hospital as a result of the bombing of Aleppo,” attaching an image of Asif, a young man with a dark, thick beard, on a hospital bed with his head bandaged. Mostafa Helal also mentioned his injured friend Asif on Facebook, writing that “My friend Asef Sabra is now in the operating room, carrying the bitterness of losing his family and the bitterness of anesthesia, but he is in the hands of the Merciful God.” Mostafa wrote that before his injury,  Asif went out to support the medical staff at Aleppo University Hospital, but did not specify exactly what he was doing.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the bombing also caused partial destruction in front of the hospital grounds and moderate material damage to several departments inside the hospital, in addition to material damage to several ambulances. According to the Facebook post by Halab Today, “the dialysis department at Aleppo University Hospital was damaged by an airstrike, just two hours after it was supplied with 60 dialysis bags.”The SNHR also noted that the building was hit by two missiles.

Facebook user Wessal Kaeid and other social media accounts shared a very emotional video filmed by Syria.TV of a young girl who lost her parents in the strike. She was filmed hysterically screaming and running to a burnt vehicle where her parents apparently stayed at the moment of the attack.  Wessal Kaied wrote, commenting on this heartbreaking video:

“The screams of this girl who lost her parents in an airstrike near Aleppo University Hospital are not just screams of pain, but a scream of every living conscience. I don’t know who this girl is, but her voice reached the depths of my heart, like many others who lost their loved ones, their homes and their safety. How many tears will be shed before the world moves to stop these tragedies?”

Facebook account S.N.N. shared a video showing the immediate aftermath of the strike, where one can see a large cloud of smoke and hear screams of people. Al-Jazeera also shared a video filmed moments after the strike, with the dust still in the air and a cloud of smoke. The voice in the video says, “God is the greatest! There was an airstrike on Aleppo University Hospital.”

Molham Volunteering Team shared the same video on Facebook, emphasizing that Aleppo University Hospital was bombed during a meeting to organize work inside the hospital, and adding that their team has begun an urgent response by delivering the necessary medical supplies.

A Facebook account, “Scientific Horizons,” shared an image showing a huge cloud of black smoke billowing in the sky near a residential building. Facebook users “Here Aleppo News Network” and Halab Tantaser shared additional images of destruction and devastation caused by the strike, in particular, several burned cars and rubble on the street. Near the cars, one can see water that was used to extinguish the fire.

A young woman named Sara Kassim filmed a video report in front of the hospital, saying: “The beginning of the Syrian revolution, and today Assad’s planes or Russian planes are targeting the populated places. We are now in front of the University of Aleppo. Assad’s forces do not target the front lines, they target hospitals and overcrowded places.”

Where sources identified the belligerent, all the sources agreed that the responsibility for the strike was with the Syrian regime and/or the Russian military.