Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to local reports, three civilians, most likely two children and one woman, were killed and up to dozens were wounded as Russian and/or Assad warplanes launched air raids in Saqba town in eastern Ghouta, Damascus.
The strikes, which Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCCSY) described as “heavy night raids”, left large parts of the town, including a mosque, in complete rubble, as depicted on several videos and images.
Sources agreed that the strikes had claimed three fatalities, and most mentioned that the victims were two children and one woman. Only Enab Baladi, who also put the death toll at three, stating that just one child and her mother were among the victims.
The number of wounded spanned from two to as many as “dozens,” the latter reported by Damascus Media Center. Among the wounded was at least one female child as reported by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SN4HR).
Sources were conflicting in terms of culpability. The majority, including al-Araby and SN4HR, attributed blame to the Syrian regime, while al-Araby identified Russia as the responsible. Finally, LCCSY believed that both parties were to blame.
The incident occured during the night.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Saqba ( سقبا), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.519286, 36.382427. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (13) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (9) [ collapse]
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The contested shelling of Saqba, Damascus, on February 8th, 2018, left large parts of the city in rubble (via Damascus Media Center)
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The contested shelling of Saqba, Damascus, on February 8th, 2018, left large parts of the city in rubble (via Damascus Media Center)
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The contested shelling of Saqba, Damascus, on February 8th, 2018, left large parts of the city in rubble (via Damascus Media Center)
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A wounded girl left in the rubble following the contested shelling fo Saqba, Damascus, February 8th, 2018 (via Syrian Network for Human Rights)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any strikes between February 1st - 28th 2018.