Conflict

Russian Military in Syria

Incident Code

RS1803

Location

عين الفيجة, Ain Fijeh, Damascus, Syria

Geolocation

33.616058, 36.179599
Accuracy: Town

Airwars Assessment

Last Updated: July 23, 2025

(Previous Incident Codes: R1678RS1800)

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.

Key Information

Country
Military Actor
Civilian Harm Reported
Yes
Civilian Harm Status
Contested
Civilians reported killed
1–2
Civilians reported injured
10–24

Geolocation Notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Ain Fijeh (عين الفيجة), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.616058, 36.179599. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Military Statements

Russian Military Assessment
Suspected belligerent
Russian Military
Russian Military position on incident
Not yet assessed
Russian Military Strike Report
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

Media From Sources (2)