Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS2975

Incident date

February 4, 2018

Location

معصران, Ma'asaran, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

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

Airwars assessment

Up to seven civilians, including up to five children and one woman – possibly from the same family – were killed and several were wounded as Russian or Assad-waged airstrikes were launched in the village of Ma’asaran, Idlib, local media reported.

In this incident, local sources reports’ spanned from one to as many as seven fatalities. The lowest reported by Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reporting the death of one child, while al-Jazeera, Zaman al-Wasl and Daily Sabah reported the death of a family of seven.

Al-Jazeera’s correspondent reported that the family, a mother, a father and five children, were all killed by the incident. The correspondent said that they were killed by “the bombing of an improvised explosive device after a Russian plane had crashed.” Meanwhile, Zaman al-Wasl, who echoed that reporting, on the contrary, said that an Assad-waged barrel bomb was to blame.

Overall, Zaman al-Wasl was the only source attributing blame to the Syrian regime, while the majority pointed to Russain culpability. It was unclear from Al-Jazeera’s reports whether it referred to a ground or aerial-waged explosives.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Ma’asaran (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

  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 7
  • (1–5 children1 woman1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 (8) [ 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

  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 7
  • (1–5 children1 woman1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 (8) [ collapse]