Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1677

Incident date

November 24, 2016

Location

حي المشهد, Al Mashad neighbourhood, Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria

Geolocation

36.1834027, 37.1369648 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between nine and 25 civilians, including children and women, were killed and up to 30 more wounded, as a result of aerial shelling in the Aleppo neighbourhood of Al Mashad local sources reported.

Sources varied regarding the number of fatalities, with the lowest at five and highest reported by ShahbaPress at 25. Several sources reported that children and women were among those killed.

According to @hamade_12, there was a “massacre in which nine children and women were killed in Al-Mashhad and Al-Qatraji district as a result of the fall of a ballistic missile”.

The Violations Documentation Center said that two adult male civilians died but did not provide their names. The Twitter account @r_shazli24 posted a picture of four male victims, but similarly neither provided names.

Only one victim was identified by name, the activist Anas Pasha, who reportedly died from wounds sustained in the strikes. HNN referred to him as their “correspondent.”

Buraq News gave the highest number of wounded, placing the number at 30, while other sources referred to “dozens” or as low as six by one source.

The incident was reportedly a part of a larger shelling of several neighbourhoods in Aleppo. Jsirtv reported that “fifty-nine martyrs were killed yesterday in the besieged neighborhoods, mostly in the districts of Al Mashhad and Al Myasar and Bab al-Nayrab and Katraji and Al Sukkari, the bombing of ballistic missiles and joint raids of the regime and the Russian occupation.”

Meanwhile, SPM-Syria added to the reporting that “Russian battleships committed a horrific massacre this evening, where two live ballistic missiles were fired at Aleppo, targeting the first neighborhood of Al-Mashhad, killing more than 14 civilian martyrs and dozens of injuries as a preliminary result.”

The sources did not agree about the culprit. Three sources (VDC, Smart News and SPM-Syria) pointed to Russia as the culprit, while another three (al-Araby, @NabaaSyria and RFS) put blame on the Syrian regime. Most sources, however, did not identify a culprit. Jsirtv pointed to both Russia and the Syrian regime.

The incident occured during the night.

The victims were named as:

Adult male named by HNN killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 25
  • (5–7 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    6–30
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (21) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (13) [ collapse]

  • According to this source, these were among the victims killed by the contested airstrikes in Mashad, Aleppo (via @r_shazli24 tweet)
  • Smart News reported about several airstrikes in eastern Aleppo on this day, and this picture is possibly from al-Mashad. The source however does not specify the location of the picture (via Smart News)
  • Eye witnesses reporting about the contested strikes that killed several civilians in Mashad, Aleppo (via Buraq Media News)
  • Aftermath of the contested strikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via RFS Media)
  • Aftermath of the contested strikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via RFS Media)
  • Aftermath of the contested strikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via RFS Media)
  • Aftermath of the contested strikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via RFS Media)
  • Aftermath of the contested strikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via RFS Media)
  • Footage of the destruction of tMashad, Aleppo, caused by airstrikes carried out by either the Syrian regime or Russia (via AlbouAzizi)
  • The activist Anas Pasha was reportedly killed by the contested airstrikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via Bahaa.halabi0)
  • The activist Anas Pasha was reportedly killed by the contested airstrikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via Leen Yasmin Rashied Facebook)
  • The activist Anas Pasha was reportedly killed by the contested airstrikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via Leen Yasmin Rashied Facebook)
  • The activist Anas Pasha was reportedly killed by the contested airstrikes targeting Mashad, Aleppo (via Leen Yasmin Rashied Facebook)

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.”

Additionally, Russia reported that its air forces have carried out strikes in Aleppo during November and December 2016.

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 25
  • (5–7 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    6–30
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (21) [ collapse]