Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1742

Incident date

December 5, 2016

Location

الغنطو , Al Ghantu, Homs, Syria

Geolocation

34.82179, 36.69605 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

In what was widely reported as a regime shelling, between five and eight civilians including four children died and dozens more were wounded in Al Ghantu.

According to LCCSY, “five civilians were martyred and dozens injured in the bombing by Assad’s forces, using rockets and heavy artillery shells, on the town of Al-Ghantu the northern countryside. This coincided with raids by military aircraft using guided missiles on the town.”

The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported  “at least four victims including three children died in an attack by government missiles and artillery shells Al Ghanto town”.

Zaher_Alhaseen put the death toll as high as eight, attributing the deaths to “shelling rocket and artillery attacks”.

According to Syrian Press Center “One girl and one woman were reportedly injured in the town of Al-Ghantu when regime targeted the town with artillery and rocket launchers.”

The Shaam News Network said: “Activists have pointed out that Assad’s forces stationed in the village of Akrad Dasniya targeted civilian houses in the town of Al-Ghantu with dozens of artillery shells and rocket launchers, which led to the death of five people, including four children.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (2)

Muhannad Mahmoud Jahwani
Child killed
Walid Saleh Jahwani
Child killed

The victims were named as:

Child killed
Age unknown killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 8
  • (4 children)
  • 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 (13) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • 'at least 4 victims including 3 children died in government missiles’ launchers’ missiles and artillery shells fired on Al Ghanto town in Homs governorate northern suburbs, December 5, 2016.' (via SN4HR)

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 December 1st – 31st 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 – 8
  • (4 children)
  • 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 (13) [ collapse]