Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to nine civilians including three children died and as many as 30 or more were wounded in airstrikes on Maarat al Numan, according to local media. All sources blamed Russia, except for one which referred to both “Russian and Syrian warplanes”.
According to Syrian News “an elderly man and a child were killed and three others were wounded”. The source blamed Russia, adding that more than five houses were damaged in the attack which reportedly also struck “the office of the service of the locam council in the city”. One employee of the council was also said to have died, and “five cars belonging to him” destroyed.
Other sources that attributed the event to Russia included Baladi, Jisrtv, Eldepress news and RFS Media Office. Death counts varied between five and seven civilians. Additionally, Baladi said that 15 more were wounded.
Syria Hora and Almarra Today, also blaming Russia, said that 30 or more people were wounded.
The Shaam News Network provided the most detail on the event. It reported: “Activists said Russian warplanes targeted the southern entrance to the town of Maaret al-Numan. The area was crowded with civilians. Cluster bombs were fired which spread dramatically in the neighborhood, resulting in the martyrdom of six civilians and wounding of dozens more, most of them in critical condition”.
Meanwhile, a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights said that “alleged Russian warplanes missiles fired on the Local Council Service Office in Ma’aret Al Numan city in Idlib governorate, killing an employee and damaging the office equipment and a tractor in front of it”. SN4Hr later put death toll at nine including three children.
One source, the Smart News Agency, collectively blamed “Russian and Syrian warplane” for the death of seven non-combatants of whom up to three were children.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Maarat al Numan (مَعَرَّة النُّعْمَان), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.647038, 36.679174. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (28) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
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One of the wounded civilians in Maarat al Numan - his injuries sustained due to alleged Russian shelling (Tweet via @Atfalalsham) [Page no longer available - accessed via Airwars archive]
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SN4HR report entitled: ‘no less than 49 massacres in September 2016 including 46 at the hands of the russian and Syrian regimes’ - includes details of alleged Russian attacks on Maarat Al Numan, September 5th (PDF via SN4HR) [Arabic]
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SN4HR report entitled: ‘no less than 49 massacres in September 2016 including 46 at the hands of the russian and Syrian regimes’ - includes details of alleged Russian attacks on Maarat Al Numan, September 5th (PDF via SN4HR) [English]
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any strikes between September 1st – 30th 2016.