Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS3596

Incident date

March 9, 2019

Location

قرية المنطار في جسر الشغور,, Al Mentar village in Jisr Al Shoughour, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

34.753487, 35.937991 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Following the alleged Russian airstrike on Al Mentar detailed in event R3385, local media said that Russian warplanes returned to the area during the rescue attempts and struck the Syrian Civil Defence as they went about their duties.

Multiple sources reported that SCD volunteer and journalist Mahmoud Abdel Al was killed – in addition to the injury of up to five other members of the White Helmets.

Some sources claimed that Russia targeted militants in the area. For example, Arabic Sputnik said that the air force struck “a meeting of leaders of the Islamic Party of Turkestan (China)”, whose headquarters was targeted in a “precision strike.”

However, the Russian MoD denied conducting strikes in the area, telling Shaam News Network that “the information published by a number of Russian media outlets quoting ‘military sources’ about precision Russian airstrikes on targets in the province of Idlib does not fully correspond to reality. The Russian space air force has not hit any targets in the area.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Mahmoud Abdel-Al
30 years old male killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Mentar village in Jisr Al Shoughour (قرية المنطار في جسر الشغور,), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.753487, 35.937991. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 journalist)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1–5
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (36) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (7) [ collapse]

  • Translation: 'The moment when the Civil Defense team was targeted while inspecting the bombardment sites - and the volunteer Mahmoud was killed and two others were wounded".

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Translation: 'The martyrdom of the volunteer journalist Mahmoud Abd Al A’al by a double Russian raid on the village of Al-Mantar in rural Jisr Al-Shughour'
  • The moment an alleged Russian airstrike hit Al Mentar, march 9th (via Jorf)
  • Mahmoud Abdel-Al
  • Alleged Russian airstrikes targeted the village of Al Mentar twice on March 9th, 2019 (via LCCSy).
  • Alleged Russian airstrikes targeted the village of Al Mentar twice on March 9th, 2019 (via Jorf News).
  • Statement by the Syrian Civil Defence on the death of their media volunteer Mahmoud Abd Al A’al, who was killed in alleged Russian airstrikes on the village of Al Mentar on March 9th, 2019 (via SCD on Facebook).

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 journalist)
  • Civilians reported injured
    1–5
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (36) [ collapse]