Airwars assessment
Between 17 and 28 civilians were reportedly killed in alleged Russian or Syrian regime air, artillery, and rocket strikes on Erbeen in Eastern Ghouta on March 19th, according to local media sources. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 15 children and two women were killed in the attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “17 children and a woman were killed and tens of others were injured in a massacre after targeting a shelter under a school in Arbin city in the Eastern Ghouta.”
The airstrike targeted a building that civilians turned into a shelter in Erbeen. Syrian Civil Defense (SCD) said on its Facebook page that among the dead were 15 children and two women who died as a result of aerial bombardment, believed to be by the regime warplanes which targeted a shelter that housed several families.
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCCSY) blamed Russian warplanes, while the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SN4HR) blamed the Syrian and/or Russian forces for the attack.
According to an initial report by SN4HR, “7 civilians (5 children and 2 women)” died; however SN4HR later revised its estimate to “17 (15 children and 2 women)” killed.
The London-based Telegraph reported: “Rescuers in Syria are searching for survivors of an air strike in besieged Eastern Ghouta which killed 15 children who had been hiding in the basement of a school.
The children, and two women who were also killed, had been hiding below ground in the Arbin neighbourhood to escape Syrian and Russian strikes which have pummelled the area for weeks.
The opposition National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces alleged that the shelter had been deliberately targeted by Russian aircraft, and that they were responsible for a ‘massacre’.”
Damascus countryside White Helmets raised the death toll to 28 saying “Arbeen: The number of martyrs reached 28 martyrs yesterday, including 20 martyrs after targeting one of the shelters that house civilians in the city after dozens of raids and barrels of warplanes and helicopters, in addition to dozens of missiles and rockets on the residential neighborhoods in the city.”
@radwanalbasha reported “17 air strikes, 10 explosive barrels and artillery and rocket shelling”.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
- Mohammad Qrea Adult male killed
- Omer al-Qalesh Adult male killed
- Ayman al-Sayed Hasan Adult male killed
- Mohammad Sohail al-Marji Adult male killed
- Mohammad Jalal al-Halabia Adult male killed
- Reem Ali Mosa Child female killed
- Yasmin Samer al-Sayed Hasan Child female killed
- Nour Samer al-Sayed Hasan Child female killed
- Tasneem al-Shaikh Qwaider Child female killed
- Safa al-Sayed Ismaeil Child female killed
- Salam al-Saqraq Child female killed
- Nawal Abd al-Hadi Adult female killed
- Lilas al-Saqraq Child female killed
- Salam Abd al-Hadi Child female killed
- Sidra al-Shaikh Qwaider Child female killed
- Doae Abbas Child female killed
- Nisreen al-Attar Child female killed
- Roea Yasin Child female killed
- Ragad Yasin Child female killed
- Rimas al-Hashash Child female killed
- Mohammad al-Hashash Adult male killed
- Batoul Al Baghdadi Adult female killed
- Hussain Al Bika'i Age unknown killed
- Hala Orabi Age unknown killed
- Zainab Attaweel Age unknown killed
- Adnan Attabaji Age unknown killed
- Mohammad Abdel Qader Age unknown killed
- Hadi Orabi Adult female killed