Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Between 61 and 90 civilians including two women and 11 children were killed – and between 40 and 100 others injured – in airstrikes on Khusham, according to multiple sources. While three of the five sources say that Russia was responsible for the attack, there was some uncertainty from the Syrian Network for Human Rights whether Russia or the regime were to blame.
Deir Ezzor is Being Slaughtered Silently reported that Russian aircraft targeted the centre of the village of Khusham, near the “clinic of Sushi Mleihan“. They published eight reports in which they named some of those killed and documented the rising death toll, which they finally put at 90, with more than 100 wounded.
The Shaam News Network also said that Russia carried out the raids, killing “at least 50 civilians” and injuring dozens more. They said that warplanes shelled several neighbourhoods, causing widespread destruction to civilian property including shops. But a subsequent report by SNN – referring to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights – said that the death toll rose to at least 61 including 11 children and two women who were killed when “suspected Russian warplanes” fired four missiles.
In confused reporting, the Syrian Network for Human Rights initially said Russian warplanes killed 61 and wounded nearly 40 others when four missiles were launched on Khusham. But two subsequent reports said it was not clear whether Russia or the Assad regime were responsible. However, a final report on February 5 once more blamed Russia, again putting the death toll at 61.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 33 non-combatants died, but the Observatory did not say who the “warplanes” belonged to.” They added that the death toll was likely to rise as many people were in a critical condition.
26 victims (killed “in a massacre due to Russian air forces shelling“) were named by the Violations Documentation Centre including one Unidentified male child.
Deir Ezzor is Being Slaughtered Silently named another 41 victims, including 4 members of a refugee family from Homs.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
Family members (2)
Family members (3)
Family members (7)
Family members (2)
Family members (2)
Family members (2)
Family members (3)
Family members (4)
Family members (3)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Khusham (خشام), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.3020098, 40.2914143. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (19) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
-
A photo of Ghazi Al Doulab who was killed with his wife and two of his daughters in law and Tali’l Al Obeid in an alleged Russian strike on Khusham, January 23rd 2016. (via, Deir Ezzor is Being Slaughtered Silently)
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Ibraheem Eid Shlash, killed in an alleged Russian raid on 23rd January 2016. (via, VDC) -
The aftermath of an alleged airstrike from 23rd January 2016. (via, SOHR)
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
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.“