(Previous Incident Code: R2477)

Up to five civilians were killed and as many as 12, including women and children, were wounded, following airstrikes in al-Hajr al-Aswad neighbourhood south of Damascus, local sources reported. While most sources blamed the Assad regime there were also allegations against Russia.

Zaman al-Wasl’s correspondent said that the airstrikes killed a whole family, in addition to wounding a number of civilians and causing extensive destruction of property, buildings and shops.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that there had been “at least five civilian victims”, while others reported  “several” civilian fatalities. Reportedly, the victims belonged to the same family.

Additionally, up to 12 civilians were reportedly left wounded, the highest number given by the Smart News Agency. The director of the Media Office of the Civil defence in Damascus, Adam Khatib, told Smart News that four children and five women were among these.

The neighbourhood, which was reportedly controlled by ISIS at the time, was hit by up to 16 airstrikes, local media said, who also added that it was the first time in more than a year that the area was subject to airstrikes.

For example, the activist Mohammed Kassem told 7al that “the regime’s forces suddenly stepped on the area that was in a truce-like situation (…) and that they carried out more than 12 air strikes without distinguishing between military points of ISIS or residential areas.”

The large majority of the reports attributed blame to the Syrian regime.
However, @BassamJaara identified Russia as the culprit while the Syrian Network for Human Rights said that both the Assad regime and Russia were to blame.