Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Six civilians were reportedly killed, and others were “seriously” wounded, in air and artillery strikes on the Al-Sha’fa river crossing in Al-Shamiya. Local media was conflicted as to who was responsible for the strikes, some blaming Russia, while others blamed the Syrian regime.
Local media described the incident as a massacre.
Euphrates initially reported that there were “three martyrs and a number of wounded in the initial result [due to] the fall of mortar shells on the town of Sha’afa”. It added that the raid occurred in the morning and hit the southern side of the Euphrates River.
Footage was published by @asharqasouri showing the damage and destruction caused to shops in the local vicinity, which were engulfed in flames.
One local news Agency named Alfayha News, reported that a bakery was burned down due to the shelling and rendered out of service. It also blamed Moscow.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of al Shamiya crossing in Al-Sha’fa (الشعفةالشامية ), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.57888, 40.93441. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (14) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
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A victim in the aftermath of the air and artillery strikes which struck the river crossing in Al-Sha'fa, 5th December 2017. (via @asharqasouri) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
A victim in the aftermath of the air and artillery strikes which struck the river crossing in Al-Sha'fa, 5th December 2017. (via @asharqasouri) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
A victim in the aftermath of the air and artillery strikes which struck the river crossing in Al-Sha'fa, 5th December 2017. (via @asharqasouri)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
The Russian Ministry of Defence announced being active in unspecified parts of Syria until December 11th, 2017.
http://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12154621@egNews
http://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12154688@egNews
http://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12154776@egNews
http://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12154751@egNews