Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS444

Incident date

January 22, 2016

Location

اللطامنة, Ltamenah, Hama, Syria

Geolocation

35.3219885, 36.6234398 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

The Violations Documentation Centre named two adult male civilians as killed “as a result of the explosion of remnants of a missile from Russian shelling“, however in the notes of Abdul Naser Younes al-Khattab there is a video of the victim entitled ‘the Jihadist  Abdul Naser Younes Al khattab in one of the field hospitals in the Hama countryside’, so it is not clear whether he was a civilian of a Jihadist.

Furthermore, the image published of the other victim, Mohammad Khair Haytham al-Mahmoud “al-Kateb”, may suggest that he is not a civilian.

An additional source, Syrian News Desk, reported that “two opposition fighters were killed and others injured in the town of Ltamenah while trying to disarm a missile which had not exploded after being fired by a Russian plane.”

The media opposition activist Mohammed Ali of Hama said: “The two members of Jasyh al Ezzah from Free Syrian Army were killed and four were wounded by the explosion of the rocket, which they tried to extract from inside the earth so as not to cause harm to civilians.”

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Adult male not clear whether these men are civilians or Jihadists killed
Adult male not clear whether these men are civilians or Jihadists killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    0 – 2
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Weak
    Single source claim, though sometimes featuring significant information.
  • Suspected attacker
    Russian Military

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    A man receives medical treatment.
  • Mohammad Khair Haytham al-Mahmoud "al-Kateb", killed in an alleged Russian raid. Sources claim this man is Jihadist. (via, VDC)
  • Abdul Naser Younes al-Khattab, killed in an alleged Russian raid. Sources claim this man is Jihadist. (via, VDC)

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

Russian Military

In its military report published on 25th January, the Kremlin said: “In the course of the last three days, January 22-24, aircraft of the Russian aviation group in the Syrian Arab Republic performed 169 combat sorties engaging 484 objects of terrorists’ infrastructure…crews of Tu-22M3 long-range bombers performed 18 combat sorties from the territory of the Russian Federation in order to engage manpower and hardware of the ISIS near Deir ez-Zor on January 22-24. Flight range reached more than 2,000 kilometers.“

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    0 – 2
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Weak
    Single source claim, though sometimes featuring significant information.
  • Suspected attacker
    Russian Military