(Previous Incident Code: R3771)

Up to five civilians, most of them from the same family, were reported killed and several others injured in alleged Russian forces or Syrian regime airstrikes or artillery shelling  on Morek in Idlib, Syria during the night of August 5/6th, 2019.

Syrian Network for Human Rights also reported “at least 4 civilians, most of them from the same family, killed as Syrian regime helicopters dropped several barrel bombs on several residential areas in Morek town in the northern suburbs of Hama governorate, on August 5th, 2019.”

@FSLA2011 tweeted that “Ahmed Abu Al-Qaq, Khalid Abu Al-Qaq and Ibrahim Abu Al-Qaq from the city of Morek in the northern Hama countryside were killed as a result of the aerial bombardment by Russian warplanes that hit the city.” Abdul Karim Noor al-Dali was also named as one of the victims.

However, @NeSyria, @ZaitunAgency  and other sources said that four civilians were killed. The highest death toll was reported by Awsat News which reported the death of five civilians and the injury of 30 others as a result of “Syrian regime warplanes dropping of 11 barrel bombs and three naval mines on Morek.”

Smart News also stated that “the regime’s helicopters dropped 11 barrels bombs and three naval mines on Morek. As a result, four civilians were killed and a fifth was injured.

In addition to that, local sources reported that warplanes with machine guns targeted the civil defence teams during the evacuation of civilians from the targeted houses. The Syrian Civil Defense and Civil Defence Hama stated that “warplanes also targeted a civil defence team in a double raid, which led to the burning of the rescue vehicle and equipment”, yet did not “cause casualties among the volunteers.” This targeting led to hindering the efforts to rescue the injured civilians.

According to news, these were “the first civilian deaths since the collapse of the ceasefire agreement.” According to this source, those killed in the attack had “returned to their town after they were displaced when the truce was announced by the Russian regime on August 2nd, 2019.”

Sources predominantly attributed the responsibility of the attack to the Syrian regime, yet one source also named Russian forces in reporting the incident, and few others blamed both the Syrian regime and Russia for it.