Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Colonel Shawqi Ayoub, “commander of the Homs operations room of the Free Syrian Army”, died in an alleged Syrian regime airstrike on Al Rastan, according to local media.
According to Qasioun, Ayoub (pictured below) died “while inspecting the field situation in Ain Hussein’s front. The engineer Faisal Awad also died”.
Qasioun added that the regime reportedly then struck Ayoub’s funeral procession.
@alEtihad_Press tweeted that “four prominent officers in the Homs Corps” died, while @AJA_Syria put this number at five.
However, according to LCCSY, five people were killed by a Russian strike in Homs – though the source didn’t state the victims’ combat status.
@SMARTNewsAgency tweeted that there were “two casualties” as a result of a regime bombing on Al Rastan. Again, the combat status was not given, and it wasn’t stated whether they were wounded or killed.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Ar-Rastan (الرستن), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.93, 36.74. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (9) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
On 20th October 2016, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation reported on the decisions made aimed towards stabilising the situation in Aleppo.
""Today, strikes by the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Air Force are finished at 10:00 (MSK) in the area of Aleppo. Early termination of the airstrikes is essential for holding a “humanitarian pause” on October 20, 2016”, said General of the Army Sergei Shoigu. According to him, it will allow to guarantee security of civilians leaving the city through 6 humanitarian corridors and to prepare casualty and medical evacuation from the eastern part of Aleppo.
“We apply to the leadership of countries influencing on armed formations active in the eastern part of Aleppo with a proposal to convince their leaders to stop warfare and leave the city,” stated the Minister of Defence.
According to General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, by the start of the “humanitarian pause” the Syrian troops will have been withdrawn to the distance safe for insurgents to leave the city with weapons through two special corridors: one – along the Kastello road, second – in the area of Suk al-Hai market."