Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Russian airstrikes killed at least 14 non-combatants according to multiple accounts.
The first strike at 1pm hit near a school and a field hospital in the town of Sarmin run by the Syrian-American Medical Society (SAMS.) A secondary strike or ‘double tap – captured on camera – shows an apparently deliberate attack on rescue workers clearing the streets.
Among the dead were a physiotherapist, a nurse and a ‘White Helmet’ civil defence worker Abdul Razak al-Aboud (see below.)
A witness named as ‘S M’ told the Syrian Network: “The first missile fell on a school and a hospital. The civil defense teams some paramedics and media activists rushed to the shelling site. The shelling caused material damages and some injures. However, 15 minutes later, another rocket was shelled in the exact same location. During the second shelling, I noticed a gleam like the camera’s flash and did not hear the plane’s sound. After that I felt that I was picked pushed upwards from the blasts’ power. Everything around me was white and dusty and I smell blood and gun powder. I thought that I had died. The attack resulted in the death of 17 individuals including civil defense members, paramedics and media activists.“
Speaking to the Guardian, Dr Mohamed Tennari, the director of Sarmin hospital, “said his facility appeared to have been directly targeted and could no longer serve patients on one of the fiercest frontlines in the war.”
A Russian Defence Ministry spokesman brushed aside the allegations, claiming the Syrian-American Medical Society “has the same relation to medicine and doctors as the ISIL to the international Scouting movement.” However, an investigation by Amnesty International challenged satellite images which Russia said proved it had not targeted the field hospital: “Infrastructure that appears damaged or destroyed in footage immediately after the attack is seen intact in the satellite image presented by Russian authorities, indicating the satellite image is from before the attack.”
Four months after the event a man named by the VDC as Hsain Diab also died of injuries sustained in the attack.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Sarmin (سرمين), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.904042, 36.726111. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (24) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (9) [ collapse]
-
A White Helmet camera captures moment of 'double tap' strike on Sarmeen, Oct 20th 2015 via White Helmets
-
-
An image that depicts the shelling aftermath on one of the targeted schools (via SN4HR)
-
an image that depicts the shelling aftermath on Sermeen makeshift hospital (via SN4HR)
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
an image that depicts the injured members from the civil defense after they were targeted by alleged Russian warplanes. (via SN4HR) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
An image of the civil defense member who was killed due to the alleged Russian shelling. (via SN4HR)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
The Kremlin confirmed carrying out strikes at Sarmin for October 20th-21st 2015, noting: “On October 19, the means of radio interception received information concerning the meeting of commanders of illegal armed groups operating near Sarmin (Idlib province). After additional check of the information through other channels concerning the time and place of the meeting, there was made a decision to make a strike on the meeting place of the militants’ commanders.“