Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to ten civilians, among them five children and a woman, were killed in airstrikes on the town of Ma’arzita in rural Idlib, according to local sources. Sources reported that the airstrikes were likely carried out by Russian warplanes. One of the alleged Russian airstrikes targeted a shelter, reportedly killing at least five civilians from the same family.
Enab Baladi reported that “a Russian warplane targeted the town in the middle of the night [of May 9th], killing civilians and causing considerable material damage.” Several sources reported that civilian homes were targeted. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “six persons at least, including a man, his wife and three of their children were killed. The death toll is expected to increase due to the presence of injured cases, some of whom are in a serious condition”.
Several sources, such as Enab Baladi, reported at least eight killed civilians. Step News Agency and Idlib Media Centre later updated the death toll to 10 civilians. Raed Saleh reported a total of four airstrikes.
The victims were mostly members of the same family. They were reportedly taking shelter in a cave when a projectile hit. The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that “Mohammad Abdul Karim al Hussein was killed along with his wife and a number of his children as suspected Russian warplanes fired missiles on a shelter/cave in Ma’ar Zita village in the southern suburbs of Idlib governorate, causing a massacre, on May 9, 2018.”
Some of the sources also mentioned multiple injuries as a result of the bombing. Numbers remained unspecified. Orient News reported that “video clips showed the moment the Civil Defence team pulled [civilians] out of the rubble and the wounded were rushed to nearby medical points.”
Smart News Agency reported that their Idlib correspondent Bilal Bios had also been injured, stating that “Bioch suffered a broken leg and bruises on his left arm, shoulder and back while covering the victims from the rubble in the village.” According to Boich, he was injured when the machine used to dig through the rubble to recover the bodies of victims slipped and fell on people, causing several injuries. As Bioch was not directly injured by the alleged Russian airstrikes, his name is not added to the casualties list.
The damage to the town was extensive, according to Orient News.
The incident occured during the night.
The victims were named as:
Family members (4)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Ma’arzita (معرزيتا), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.555418, 36.573707. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (22) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (22) [ collapse]
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Pictures taken from the scene as White Helmets search for survivors and retrieve the bodies of the victims from their shelter, after the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Twitter: White Helmets) -
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Pictures taken from the scene as White Helmets search for survivors and retrieve the bodies of the victims from their shelter, after the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Twitter: White Helmets) -
Pictures taken from the scene as White Helmets search for survivors and retrieve the bodies of the victims from their shelter, after the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Twitter: White Helmets)
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Picture of one of the victims with his deceased daughter, taken after the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Twitter: Mohammed) -
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Pictures of the rescue operation of the White Helmets after an alleged airstrike on a civilian house in Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Twitter: Raed Saleh) -
Pictures of the rescue operation of the White Helmets after an alleged airstrike on a civilian house in Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Twitter: Raed Saleh)
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Picture of smoke rising after the alleged airstrikes on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Picture of smoke rising after the alleged airstrikes on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Picture of one of the children who died as a result of the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center) -
Picture of Mohammad Abdul Karim al Hussein, the father of the family that got hit by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Syrian Network for Human Rights)
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Pictures of the destruction to the civilian house left behind by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Pictures of the destruction to the civilian house left behind by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Pictures of the destruction to the civilian house left behind by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Pictures of the destruction to the civilian house left behind by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Pictures of the destruction to the civilian house left behind by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Pictures of the destruction to the civilian house left behind by the alleged airstrike on Ma’arzita on May 9th 2018 (via Facebook: Idleb Media Center)
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Mohammad Abdul Karim al Hussein was killed along with his wife and a number of his children as suspected Russian warplanes fired missiles on a shelter in Ma’ar Zita village in Idlib governorate southern suburbs, causing a massacre, on May 9, 2018. (via SN4HR)