Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A number of civilians were killed and wounded alongside members of the militant jihadist group “Hay’t Tahrir Al Sham” – also known as al-Qaeda – in airstrikes on the Hay’t Tahrir Al Sham military airbase in Abu Alduhur, as well as surrounding residential housing, local media said. Sources were conflicted as to who was to blame. Most attributed pointed to Russian warplanes, though some identified the Assad regime as the culprit.
There was confusion amongst local sources as to how many civilians died in the raids. Baladi reported that seven members of al-Qaeda were killed. According to Al Jazeera, five “people” were killed, but the source didn’t specify whether the victims were jihadists or civilians. Similarly @BassamJaara reported that eight “people” were killed.
Syrian National Coalition specifically reported that five civilians were killed and that six others were wounded. It was reported by @almahernews however, that “seven gunmen” died during a raid on the “Court of Abu Thahir”.
According to Masrawy, “at least eight people, including five members of the Islamic police of the Sham Liberation Organisation, were killed”. Another source said the raids killed 12 leaders of the organisation.
Syriacivilcenter reported that “Syrian warplanes launched more than 20 violent raids targeting the town of Abu al Dhuhour in southern Idlib on Tuesday morning October 3, 2017, resulting in a massacre that killed five civilians and wounding of six others, in addition to destruction and fires in houses and roads”.
@mohanadalshekh noted as many as six Russian warplanes were circling the vicinity before carrying out a continuous bombardment with the use of “high-explosive missiles”. Other sources counted up to 23 raids which lasted hours. Zaman Alwsl added that a source informed them “the raids were carried out continuously without interruption and the crews and ambulances could not approach the target area until all the raids had ended.”
According to Kazem Basbous, there was “destruction of the most important ammunition depot for the terrorists of the Sham Liberation Organisation. This was completely destroyed, including dozens of Grad missiles, anti-tank missiles and various tank shells. There was also destruction of the tank compound in the Greater Hanjak, in which five T72 tanks were destroyed and burned. Four vehicles were destroyed, including an armoured vehicle belonging to the terrorist Abu Tarab al-Dagestani. [There was also] destruction of the Sharia court and the killing of the most important judges of the Party of Turkmenistan and the most important judges of the liberation of Sham Abu Abdul Rahman Muhajir. The final death toll was 14 with 21″.
RPG’s were reportedly used.
The incident occured at 09:26:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (44) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
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The aftermath of a Russian airstrike on Abu Alduhur, 3rd October 2017. (via Syriacivilcenter)
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A casualty in the wreckage of a building struck by alleged Russian raids on Abu Alduhur, 3rd October 2017. (via Hosein Alabdallah) -
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A casualty in the aftermath of an alleged Russian raid on Abu Alduhur, 3rd October 2017. (via Tribal fighters news) -
The aftermath of a Russian airstrike on Abu Alduhur, 3rd October 2017. (via Zaman Alwsl)