(Previous Incident Codes: R4016RS4263)

At least one civilian was reportedly killed and others wounded in alleged Russian or Syrian regime airstrikes on the town of Ma’ar Shimmareen, Idlib governorate, on December 18th, 2019, according to local sources.

Shaam News Agency has put the death toll at six killed people, but it is unclear if the victims were civilians or belligerents. Step News Agency reported that “others were wounded”.

The majority of sources, including the Syrian Human Rights Committee, identified the victim as Ahmed Muhammad Al-Ismail. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SN4HR) claimed instead that the young man Abdul Razzaq Nayef Qitaz had been killed in the attack. A large number of other sources, however, reported that Abdul Razzaq had died in an attack on Ma’aret Al Nu’man on the same day (see incident R4017)

SN4HR reported that “warplanes we believe were Russian fired missiles in the vicinity of Ma’arshmarin in the eastern suburbs of Idlib”. Other sources, such as Step News Agency and Edlib Media Center, blamed the Syrian regime for the airstrike.

The journalist @mohmad_rasheed reported that both Russian warplanes and helicopters had been attacking the area since morning. According to @MMCSYR, the belligerent dropped barrel bombs on the town. Jisr TV reported instead that vacuum missiles had been fired. Shaam News furthermore detailed that the airstrikes “were accompanied by very violent artillery and missile strikes”.