Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1784

Incident date

December 11, 2016

Location

قرية عرفة, Arafeih, Hama, Syria

Geolocation

35.38178, 37.02376 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

At least one child was killed and another child was injured from the explosion of a cluster bomb that was left behind by alleged Russian airstrikes a few months prior in the village of Arafeih in eastern Hama, according to local media.

The child killed from the cluster bomb was a 12-year-old boy; his brother also sustained minor injuries from the explosion.

Both @SamirMaleh1 and the Violations Documentation Center identified Russian planes as responsible for dropping the cluster bomb, while the Hama East Facebook page did not publish who the culprit was.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

12 years old male killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (3) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Image of the victim of a cluster bomb explosion in Arafeih, Dec. 11th (via Hama East 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 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.”

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (3) [ collapse]