Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS2505

Incident date

September 24–25, 2017

Location

قرية حير الصبي, Hayr al-Sabi near the town of al Dana , Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

36.213186, 36.770897 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Subdistrict level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Three to seven civilians were killed, including a family of seven, and six others, including women and children, were injured in airstrikes against the village of Hayr al-Sabi near the town of al Dana in northern Idlib according to local activists. Sources were conflicted as to who was to blame, some attributing blame to Russia, while the others blamed the Syrian regime.

The date of the incident is contested. Step says 06:am on 25th, however, some tweets appeared night of 24th and others early on 25th. The first tweet was 9pm on 24th.

Some sources have only reported that a family of three was killed, including a mother, father and a son, however others put the numbers as high as seven.

An interview with one of injured residents ‘Abu Mahmoud’ goes as follows. “I heard a noise of a plane then a noise of a missile – I couldn’t hear the plane anymore- I was sure it was a missile. Most residents were sleeping on their roofs. It is an entirely civilian area there are no militants here. The result of the raid, as you can see, the house was totally flattened. There were about five injured and five martyrs.  In our neighbours house there were two people injured.”

An interview with another resident ‘abu Hussein’ goes as follows:, “This is my house. We suddenly heard a plane we looked up and the missile fell. These are civilian home there is no free army and no one else. It is civilian homes.”

Footage shows huge fires in the aftermath of the raid, which occurred at dawn.

The incident occured at 06:05:00 local time.

The victims were named as:

Family members (3)

Tayseer Ahmad al-Namer
Adult male killed
Ahlam Fares Shihadeh
Adult female killed
Ahmad Tayseer al-Namer
Child male killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the subdistrict of Hayr al-Sabi near the town of al Dana (قرية حير الصبي), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.213186, 36.770897. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3 – 7
  • (1–2 children1–2 women1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    6
  • 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 (24) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (7) [ collapse]

  • The aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Sayed Abu Sbeih)
  • The aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Sayed Abu Sbeih)
  • The aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Sayed Abu Sbeih)
  • Members of the Civil Defence in the aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Syrian Coalition)
  • Members of the Civil Defence in the aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Tuan Thuoc)
  • Members of the Civil Defence in the aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Ibrahim Yusuf)
  • Members of the Civil Defence in the aftermath of airstrikes, 24th September 2017. (via Al Jazeera Syria)

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

  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3 – 7
  • (1–2 children1–2 women1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    6
  • 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 (24) [ collapse]