Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Between four and seven civilians, including one child and one woman, were killed and up to 80 more civilians were wounded as Russian and/or Assad warplanes struck the town of Kafr Batna, eastern Ghouta, Damascus, local media reported.
According to local reports, the incident in Kafr Batna was one of many lethal aerial incidents on that day in eastern Ghouta and was by many described as a massacre.
DMC News said that the strikes hit a popular market in the town and other sources mentioned that the strikes hit residential areas.
The death toll spanned from four to seven, the highest reported, among others, by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SN4HR) who reported that one child was among the fatalities.
Al-Araby, who reported five fatalities said that one woman and one child were among the victims.
Some sources reported “a number of wounded” while Smart News Agency reported as many as 80, reportedly including women and children.
The incident reportedly included both airstrikes as well as ground-launched artillery. As the field activist, Omar al-Khatib, told al-Araby that the massacre carried out by the Syrian military aircraft by firing rockets.
Finally, it remains unclear who is to blame. Most of the sources who identified a culprit pointed to the Syrian regime. Among these are SN4HR, al-Araby and Smart News Agency.
However, LCCSY pointed, as the only one, to both “Russian and Assad raids”.
The remaining sources did not apportion blame.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Kafr Batna (كفر باتنة), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.514529, 36.374577. 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 (6) [ collapse]
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Locals attending a prayer for a victim of the contested strikes in eastern Ghouta on February 6th, 2018. It is unclear whether if he was killed from the strikes in Kafr Batna as reported by this source, as DMC Press published a similar photo in relation to the strikes in Jabar, also on February 6th (via Smart News Agency)
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Locals attending a prayer for a victim of the contested strikes in eastern Ghouta on February 6th, 2018. It is unclear whether if he was killed from the strikes in Kafr Batna as reported by this source, as DMC Press published the same photo in relation to the strikes in Jabar, also on February 6th (via Smart News Agency)
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Smoke rising from the town of Kafr Batna, Damascus, after being subject to aerial shelling on February 6th, 2018 (via DMC Press)
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Smoke rising from the town of Kafr Batna, Damascus, after being subject to aerial shelling on February 6th, 2018 (via DMC Press)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any strikes between February 1st - 28th 2018.