Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS3054

Incident date

February 21, 2018

Location

حمورية, Hamouriya, Damascus, Syria

Geolocation

33.528464, 36.389472 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Up to six civilians, including one child, were killed along with five wounded as Hamouriya, eastern Ghouta, Damascus, for the third day in row was subject to Assad and/or Russian air and artillery shelling, local media reported.

According to al-Jazeera’s correspondent, who blamed both Russian and Assad forces, the shelling of eastern Ghouta on February 21st included both explosive drums and rockets while adding that Hamouriya was among the cities with the highest concentration of strikes. Step News Agency reported that both warplanes and helicopter gunships stroke eastern Ghouta towns, including Hamouriya.

While most reports put the death toll at one, Step News reported five fatalities while the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported the highest number of victims, namely “at least six”, including one child.

The Twitter account Omariorphan identified one male victim by name, adding that he besides from being a humanitarian volunteer, also worked at Rawdat Bara’im al-Omari kindergarten in eastern Ghouta.

While some sources referred to “several” wounded, HalabTodayTV said that at least five civilians were left injured.

Sources were not clear in terms of culpability, as blame was appointed to either the Syrian regime, Russia, or both across the reports.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the city of Hamouriya (حمورية), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.528464, 36.389472. 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 – 6
  • (1 child1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–5
  • 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 (9) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • Footage from Hamouriya, Damascus, after the city was struck by the contested airstrikes on February 21st, 2018 (via Hadi Abdallah)
  • Abdul Rahman Yasin Abu Abada, who worked at Rawdat Bara'im al-Omari kindergarten in eastern Ghouta, was reportedly killed by the contested airstrikes in Hamouriya, Damascus, February 21st, 2018 (via Omariorphan)

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 – 6
  • (1 child1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2–5
  • 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 (9) [ collapse]