Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1800

Incident date

December 28, 2016

Location

عين الفيجة, Ain Fijeh, Damascus, Syria

Geolocation

33.616058, 36.179599 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

One or two civilians were killed, and a minimum of 10 were wounded, in raids on Ain Fijeh. Sources were conflicted as to who was to blame the raids, with most blaming the Syrian regime, and some attributing blame to Russia.

Only two sources mentioned the death of a civilian in Ain Fijeh.

One source – Sky News Arabia – reported the death of a civilian, however, this source is the same report as from the previous incident – RS1799 – where it stated: “A civilian was also killed and others were injured, including a civil defence volunteer, following the bombing of Syrian warplanes on the villages of Basima, Dir Muqrin and Ayn al-Fijah”.

Despite this, another single source – @FreeArmyNews – reported that “heavy shelling today resulted in the death of two and the injury of at least 10 civilians”.

In a similar fashion to the previous incident in Basima – RS1799- it was reported that there were as many as eight raids with missiles, cluster bombs, artillery, explosive barrel bombs and “dozens of rockets”.

This allegedly led to extensive material destruction including the cities water-pipes.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 2
  • Civilians reported injured
    10–24
  • 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 (9) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • The exact moments an alleged air or artillery strike hit Ain Fijeh, 28th December 2016. (via Qasioun news Agency)
  • The exact moments an alleged air or artillery strike hit Ain Fijeh, 28th December 2016. (via Qasioun news Agency)

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 – 2
  • Civilians reported injured
    10–24
  • 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 (9) [ collapse]