(Previous Incident Codes: R3358RS3568)

Civilians were possibly killed or injured in alleged Russian airstrikes on the town of Al Zayniyeh on December 31st, 2018, according to local sources.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights wrote that there were possible casualties in alleged airstrikes after midnight on the former headquarters of factions near the towns of  Mar’and and Al Zayniyeh. The SOHR did not specify whether the possible casualties were civilians or not.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria tweeted that “two raids were carried out by Russian warplanes on the outskirts of the towns of Al Zayniyeh and Mar’and, west of the city of Jisr Al Shughour in the western Idlib countryside.”

According to Shaam News Network, civilian homes were targeted. While several sources reported on the airstrikes, only SOHR reported possible civilian casualties. Hence, while the strike status of this incident is graded as fair, the civilian harm status remains weak. All sources pointed to Russia as the responsible belligerent.

According to the SOHR, it was the first time since the agreement on a demilitarized zone on September 17th, 2018, between Russia and Turkey that a Russian airstrike took place in the area.