Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1641

Incident date

November 19, 2016

Location

مرج الزهور, Marj Al Zuhur, Idlib, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

35.742153, 36.365309 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Airstrikes, targeting the village of Marj al-Zuhour in the countryside of Idlib, killed up to nine civilians, reportedly from the same family, including one woman and three children, and injured up to another 24. Sources were conflicted as to whether this was the work of Russia or the Assad regime.

Most sources put the death toll at eight, adding that the victims were from the same family. The twitter account Tahrir Al Sham identified the family as the Emad al-Khalil family. Reportedly, one woman and three children were among the victims. Meanwhile, the number of wounded spanned from two to 24.

Among the sources who identified a culprit, most attributed the incident to Russia. LCCSY reported that “Russian warplanes carried out a thermobaric missile attack on the Marj Zuhur village.” A handful, however, blamed the Syrian regime.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (1)

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Marj Al Zuhur, Idlib (مرج الزهور), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.742153, 36.365309. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 9
  • (3 children1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–24
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military

Sources (16) [ collapse]

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

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.”

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 9
  • (3 children1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–24
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Syrian Regime, Russian Military

Sources (16) [ collapse]