(Previous Incident Code: R4272)

At least two civilians were reported injured during alleged Syrian and/or Russian artillery shelling and/or airstrikes on the towns of Al Dakmak in the Al-Ghab Plain, west of Hama on July 14th 2020.

The Syrian Civil Defence Forces of the Southern Directorate reported that two young men with injuries of varying degrees were rushed to the hospital by the SCD team to receive treatment after civilian homes were targeted with heavy artillery, while @AJA_Syria only mentioned that “civilian casualties” resulted from the artillery shelling. In a different post the SCD attributed the strike on Al Dakmak to Syrian forces.

However, sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strike. According to @HalabToday reporters “Artillery shelling from the regime forces’ positioned in Jorin camp targeted the village of [Al Dukmak] in the western Hama countryside”, thus corroborating the SCD’s statement. However, @Ebaa News and @Albukhari attributed the strike to Russian Armed Forces. In turn, @Step_Agency and @kwater4syr said that “Russian occupation warplanes bombard the town of Kafr Aweed in the southern countryside of Idlib in conjunction with artillery shelling from the positions of the regime’s militias in Jorin camp on the village of Duqmaq in the western countryside of Hama”, thereby leaving it contested whether Russian forces were involved in the strike on Al Dakmak.

The incident allegedly took place at night based on images from the White Helmets rescuing those injured. The exact local time of the incident is unknown.