Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS3353

Incident date

March 31, 2018

Location

الدانا, Al Dana, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

36.218763, 36.768638 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between two and four civilians, including a father and his son – reportedly IDPS from  al Haymaniya village in Hama governorate – died and several more were wounded in alleged Russian or regime airstrikes on Al Dana according to sources on the ground.

@IdlibPlus put the death toll at two, and several sources, including the Violations Documentation Centre, named the child Khaled Methkal al-Ahmad and his father Methkal al-Ahmad as killed.

Other sources, such as @HadiAlabdallah, put the death toll at four.

The Syrian Reporter said that “Russian warplanes launched three raids on the city Dana in the northern Idlib countryside, concentrated near the court building on the outskirts of the city.”

The Smart News Agency cited an activist nicknamed ‘Ahmed’, who said that  “three air strikes targeted the Civil Defense Center in the city, which led to the destruction of the entire building and wounding a number of civilians. The bombing came in the context of a military escalation in cities and towns in Idlib, despite the continuation of the ‘easing of escalation’ agreement, of which Russia was a guarantor.”

@2011Hsr and @AJA_Syria noted that Russia and the regime had killed “seven people in raids across the cities of Ariha, Jisr al-Shughour, and the town of Al Dana”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who also said that the court building was targeted, added that “two fighters from Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham” were also killed.

 

 

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (2)

Child male killed
Adult male killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Al Dana (الدانا), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.218763, 36.768638. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 4
  • (1 child1 man)
  • 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
  • Belligerents reported killed
    2

Sources (14) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

  • Translation: "The moment the Russian warplanes targeted the city of Dana, four martyrs are a preliminary outcome, and Russian planes are still flying and bombing areas of Idlib countryside."
  • Translation: "Two martyrs due to the air strikes targeting the city of Dana in the northern countryside of Idlib."
  • Translation: "The first moments when a building in the city of Al-Dana in Idlib countryside was targeted by an air strike by Russian aircraft."

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
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 4
  • (1 child1 man)
  • 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
  • Belligerents reported killed
    2

Sources (14) [ collapse]