(Previous Incident Code: R2625)

In what has been described my local media as a “massacre” as many as 20 civilians were killed and up to 35 were wounded, in airstrikes conducted over Ma’ar Shoreen. Nearly all reports of the incident blamed Russia, however one source blamed the Syrian regime making this a contested event.

Many of the dead were women and children. Graphic imagery and footage released shows dead children in the aftermath who were buried alive while asleep.

CCTV footage of the vicinity at the time shows the exact moment the first raid fell at 23:58:29.

Civilians homes were completely destroyed, and one image shows a huge crater where civilian housing once stood. Three high explosive rockets were reportedly used by Step News, accounting for the level of destruction.

According to local media, some of the civilians killed were Internally Displaced Civilians from Hama.

The Syrian Civil Defence reported the wounded were in a serious condition with many of them taken to medial points to receive immediate medial attention.

According to Russia Today, “Russia’s Defence Ministry has denied reports that the Russian air force has targeted a village of Maarshurin in the north of Syria.The ministry said in a statement issued today that “the Russian warplanes did not launch air strikes on the residential centre of Maarshurin  in the province of Idlib, Syria.” They added that “Russian space air force planes have not carried out missions in this area”.

One media outlet reported that “eleven people killed from Al al-Shahhad family and from the killed there were families  displaced from northern countryside of Hama from (Khatat and Halfaya) towns”.