Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS2968

Incident date

February 3, 2018

Location

معصران, Ma'saran, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

35.70683, 36.802053 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A family of seven; a father, a mother and five children, were killed and the sixth sibling was left seriously wounded, local media reported, following aerial shelling of Ma’saran, Idlib, though sources were unclear as to whether Russia or the Syrian regime was to blame.

Most sources reported that the event had killed a family of seven, while Step News Agency identified the names of the victims, including details about the sixth brother who was left badly wounded.

Several sources pointed to Russian warplanes, such as Step News and Hadi Abdullah who added that Russia had carried out the strike in retaliation for one of their planes that reportedly had been shot down on a previous day. Step News referred to “Russian helicopter gunships.”

Meanwhile, HalabTodayTV and Edlib Media Center did not identify the culprit but merely reported that helicopters had “targeted” the town with “explosive barrels” – a weapon known to be used the the regime.

The Shaam News Network attributed blame to both Syrian regime and Russian warplanes.

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (7)

Adult female killed
Child female killed
Child male killed
Child male killed
Child male killed
Child male injured

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Ma’saran (معصران), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.70683, 36.802053. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    7
  • (5 children1 woman1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • 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 (7) [ collapse]

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

Russian Military

Russia has not reported any strikes between February 1st - 28th 2018.

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    7
  • (5 children1 woman1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1
  • 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 (7) [ collapse]