Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS2301

Incident date

June 23, 2017

Location

محيمدة, Muheimeda, Deir Ezzor, Syria

Geolocation

35.44294, 40.08619 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Sources on the ground reported that as many as 17 civilians were killed, and dozens more were wounded, following airstrikes on Muheimeda in the early hours of the morning. Sources were conflicted as to who was to blame. The majority of sources attributed blame to the Syrian regime, others pointed to Russian warplanes, however there were also many sources that blamed “unidentified warplanes” for the strikes.

Similarly, there was disparity over how many civilians were killed. Orient News put the death toll as high as 17, though many other sources said that between 10 and 15 died. Two women and four children were included in the death toll.

Rfsmediaoffice noted that the death toll was highly likely to rise due to the severity of some of the injured civilians. Multiple sources such as @HadiAlabdallah reported that the wounded were mostly women and children. Additionally, Deirezzor News stated that medical supplies in the village were limited. 

According to multiple sources, “warplanes targeted a gathering of buildings [within the] vicinity of a water station in the town of Mheimdiya”. Euphrates Post suggested that the raids “targeted civilian homes”.

There were allegedly three “targeted” raids overall on the vicinity.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (8)

Adult male killed
Child female killed

The victims were named as:

Name unknown
Age unknown

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Muheimeda (محيمدة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.44294, 40.08619. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6 – 17
  • (4 children2 women)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–25
  • 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]

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 strikes between June 1st – 31st 2017.

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6 – 17
  • (4 children2 women)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–25
  • 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]