Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to local media, a family of up to seven members, including as many as five children, were killed and several others were left wounded by air and artillery strikes in Otaia, Damascus, carried out by either Russia or the Syrian regime.
Sources reported that multiple towns of eastern Ghouta were subject to aerial and artillery shelling on February 19th, 2019, including the town of Otaia. The Civil Defence tweeted that in Otaia, a residential house had been subject to “double targeting”.
While Free Deir Ezzor Radio reported four fatalities, the majority of sources reported that between six and seven civilians were killed, all from the same family. Barada News and Mohamemd Aldaher both published a graphic image of the victims, noting that five of the seven victims were children.
The Civil Defence, as the only one, reported that the shelling also caused several wounded, including women. Many were taken to medical points.
Arab48 and the Civil Defence reported both the occurrence of aerial as well as artillery shelling.
Sources were unclear in terms of culpability. While some, such as Orient News pointed to the Syrian regime, Mohamemd Aldaher and al-Hasaka Arabea blamed Russia. And finally, Free Deir Ezzor Radio, pointed to shared culpability between Russia and the Syrian regime.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Otaia (اوتايا), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.524241, 36.455908. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (9) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
A family of at least six was reportedly killed by the contested strikes in Otaia, Damascus on February 19th, 2018 (via Barada News)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any strikes between February 1st - 28th 2018.