Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS3284

Incident date

March 16, 2018

Location

سقبا, Saqba, Damascus, Syria

Geolocation

33.519286, 36.382427 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between nine and 12 civilians were killed in airstrikes and/or artillery strikes on the city of Saqba on March 16th 2018. Conflicting reports blame both the Russians and Syrian regime for the incident. One Syrian Civil Defence volunteer was reportedly killed by heavy machine gunfire of Syrian regime soldiers.

Goota4 has named eight of the victims. @SyriaCivilDefe published a photo of Syrian Civil Defense volunteer and the 9th named victim, Hassan Al Husseini, reporting that Al Husseini was killed by “stray bullets while carrying out his humanitarian work in the city of Saqba, as a result of targeting residential neighbourhoods with heavy machine guns and snipers by the regime forces”.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, reported that 12 members of the Civil Defense were killed. The number of wounded remains unclear.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee reported that in total, it had documented 99 civilian deaths as the result of Russian and Syrian regime bombing.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (2)

The victims were named as:

Age unknown male killed
Adult male Syria Civil Defense volunteer killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    9 – 12
  • (8–12 men12 healthcare_personnel)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • 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 (14) [ collapse]

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    9 – 12
  • (8–12 men12 healthcare_personnel)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • 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 (14) [ collapse]