Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1614

Incident date

November 17, 2016

Location

بيت سوا, Beit Sawa, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria

Geolocation

33.537531, 36.399937 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Up to two civilians were killed in an airstrike on Beit Sawa, Eastern Ghouta, according to multiple sources.

It remains unclear who was responsible for the raid, with conflicting reports. Some claimed the regime were responsible, others that Russian warplanes struck the area, and some could not positively attribute responsibility.

One man killed was named locally as Hikmat al-Hamad. White Helmets Rif Dimashq stated in a tweet that he was Palestinian.

Sky News Arabia reported that the killing of one civilian and wounding of others was due to “raids by military aircraft of the government forces on the town of Beit Sawa”.

However, the source, LCCSY, reported that the man was “martyred due to the Russian airstrike on Beit Sawa in Eastern Ghouta”.

7al News are the only source that put the death toll at two, with a media activist source telling them that “two civilians were killed by the bombing on the town of Beit Sawa”.

Multiple sources claim that a “number” of civilians were injured in the incident, with @Syr_Rev_News stating that children and women were injured. However, no other known sources have any more information on the number of people wounded.

 

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Adult male killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • (1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (13) [ collapse]

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

Russian Military

Russia has not reported any specific strikes between November 1st – 30th 2016.

On 6 January 2017, Russia, however, reported: “Since November 8, 2016, the aircraft carrier group of the Northern Fleet consisting of the heavy aircraft carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, the large ASW ship Severomorsk, as well as auxiliary vessels of the Black Sea Fleet, has been fulfilling counterterrorist missions on the territory of Syria”, adding that ”in the course of two months of their participation in the combat actions, naval aviation pilots have carried out 420 combat sorties, 117 of them were night ones”.

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • (1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (13) [ collapse]