Airwars assessment
On January 25th 2020 at 13:02, up to five civilians, including a woman and two children, were reported killed and six others wounded following Russian or Syrian regime airstrikes carried out against the village of Shannan. Two non-civilians were also reportedly killed.
Local reports were inconsistent concerning the number of victims, as numbers initially stated three women and two children killed, while others cited two children, two men, and one woman killed. Smart News reported the death of four civilians, a woman, her two children, and a male, and this was also reported by Civil Defense. The majority of sources that reported on the incident mentioned three civilians being killed and two non civilians killed, which makes it likely that the men killed were the non civilians.
Al-Jisr reported a total of two dead civilians, while Syrian television noted the death of a woman and her two children, and this was supported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The identities of the woman and her children were listed as Mona Suleiman Fatallah (wife of Muhammad al-Taha), a two-month-old baby Wjad Muhammad Al-Taha and her sister, Thana Muhammad al-Taha. The identity of the reported fourth and possibly fifth civilian was not released.
The Syrian Civil Defense said the mother and her children were killed when their house was shelled and completely destroyed. The report stated that the “Regime’s warplanes bombed the homes of civilians in the village of Shanan, causing the death of a woman and two children and the injury of a child, a woman and a man. Teams worked to rescue the family, whose house was completely destroyed by the shelling.”
Shaam Network said that one of the dead children was an infant/baby.
Baladi News noted that Shannan was solely a residential area and a house was destroyed, killing a woman and her two children.
@ShahbaPress blamed the Russians for the incident, while Syrian Civil Defense, Ariha Today, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrian Network for Human Rights blamed the Syrian regime. The Step Agency said that both Russia and the regime were responsible.
Baladi News reported that the strike was carried out by pro-Assad forces using SU-22 warplanes and SNHR fixed wing Russian planes. @so_ria98 tweeted that vacuum missiles were used in the attack.
The incident occured between 1:02 pm and 1:05 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
Summary
Sources (39) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
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The aftermath of an alleged strike on Shannan, Jan 25th (via White Helmets)
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The aftermath of an alleged strike on Shannan, Jan 25th (via White Helmets)
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The aftermath of an alleged strike on Shannan, Jan 25th (via White Helmets)
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Damage caused by airstrikes on Shannan on January 25, 2020. (Image posted by @media_idlib)