Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In what multiple sources described as a “massacre”, between 40 and 55 civilians – many of them reportedly children and women – died and up to 70 more were wounded in airstrikes on the village of Oweijal. The strikes resulted in widespread destruction to civilian homes – and, according to several reports – the destruction of an entire neighbourhood. @ALAMWI, for example, reported that “ten houses were completely destroyed”.
The majority of sources blamed Russia for the event, though there were two allegations against the Assad regime.
Most sources put the death toll between 25 and 30 civilians. Several said that this was a double-tip strike, with warplanes returning a second time to target those involved in the rescue operation. Orient News reported that victims included ” members of the civil defence, paramedics and media personnel”.
According to the Shaam News Network, “activists said that the Russian warplane targeted a residential area in the town of Oweijal with several missiles, which resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians. The area was targeted for a second time as ambulance teams gathered to aid the victims of the first strike”.
The highest death count was given by @watannews2015 at 55 civilians, “half of them women and children”.
Alsouria pointed directly to “the planes of Bashar al-Assad’s regime”, while the Syrian Network for Human Rights – who put the initial death toll at 14 – blamed “government warplanes and its allies”.
Halab News reported that Russia hit the village with “four bunker-busting missiles” and listed the following civilians as killed “following Russian raids” on the town. 14 named and 26 were left unidentified. Al Jazeera also put the death toll at 40.
@spm_syria reported the “disappearance of the young media Zain Ali” and published his photo.
According to Defence_arab, “A Russian warplane fired a concussion at the village of Oweijal, killing 32 people and injuring sixty others. A residential area of about 10 buildings was destroyed.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Oweijal (عويجل), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.179537, 36.952987. 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 (15) [ collapse]
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Media colleague Abdallah al Milhem, injured in the raid. (via HNN)
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Media colleague Abdul Razzaq Shakurdi, injured in the raid. (via HNN)
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Disappearance of the media activist "Zain Ali" in the raid on Owejial. (via spm_syria)
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Houses entirely destroyed in the raid. (via Alamawi)
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Houses entirely destroyed in the raid. (via SyrianCoalitoin)
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The aftermath of the alleged Russian and Syrian regime raid on Oweijal, 17th October 2016. (via watannews2015)
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The aftermath of the alleged Russian and Syrian regime raid on Oweijal, 17th October 2016. (via watannews2015)
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The aftermath of the alleged Russian and Syrian regime raid on Oweijal, 17th October 2016. (via watannews2015)
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The aftermath of the alleged Russian and Syrian regime raid on Oweijal, 17th October 2016. (via watannews2015)
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A crater from the alleged airstrike on 17th October 2016. (via plespost)
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A woman grieves in the aftermath of the alleged airstrike. (via plespost)
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A man sits amongst the rubble in the aftermath of the alleged airstrike. (via plespost)
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A woman grieves in the aftermath of the alleged airstrike. (via plespost)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any strikes between October 1st – 19th 2016.