Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS1909

Incident date

February 19, 2017

Location

نصيب , Nasib, Daraa, Syria

Geolocation

32.550502, 36.187213 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Up to seven civilians – of whom four were named – died and as many as eight others were wounded in an air or artillery strike on Nasib, according to local media. While most sources blamed Russia, there were also several allegations against the Assad regime.

According to Ara, “Russian warplanes targeted the vicinity of the hospital with several air raids using high-explosive space rockets. This destroyed the hospital building and was followed by artillery shelling targeting the the building directly. The hospital was completely put out of service”.

LCCSY put the death toll at four, including a woman, a young man and two children – and blamed Russian raids for the civilian harm.

However, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Syrian warplanes were responsible for the event.

A number of other sources blamed both Russia and the regime. For example, the Smart News Agency referenced “artillery shelling by regime forces and air raids likely conducted by Russian warplanes, focusing on the perimeter of the hospital, killing four civilians and wounding eight others”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave the highest death count (of seven, including three women), but didn’t name the culprit.

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (4)

Child female killed
Child female killed
Adult male An Arabic teacher killed
Adult female killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Nasib (نصيب ), for which the generic coordinates are: 32.550502, 36.187213. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Infrastructure
    Healthcare
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4 – 7
  • (2 children1–3 women1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–8
  • 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 (18) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • Footage by the White Helmets showing the shelling of Nasib, Feb 19th.
  • A tweet on the death of Qasem Mohammed Rifa’i, 'Arabic teacher for thousands of students in Houran'.

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Infrastructure
    Healthcare
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4 – 7
  • (2 children1–3 women1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–8
  • 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 (18) [ collapse]