(Previous Incident Code: R4519)

Between three and four civilians, including a child, were reported to have been killed and up to 11 others, including two children, a woman and an elderly man, were injured by shelling suspected by militants allied to the Syrian regime and/or Russian forces in the countryside village of Kafr Nouran on June 21, 2023.

The @SyriaCivilDefe initially reported that two civilians, a child and his father, were killed and eight others, including three children, were injured in the initial outcome of the shelling of the road connecting the village of Kafr Nouran and the town of Maarat Al-Naasan. The Syrian Civil Defense later updated their toll to three dead and 11 wounded, including two children, a woman and an elderly man.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights provided the names of the civilians killed: Mousab Barakat, his son Mohammad Mousab Barakat, and Salim Darwish, and @khaleedalkhteb added the name Ahmed Shaaban from Taftanaz to the list of civilians killed. A tweet from @mzmgr941 referred to Salim as a “youth” but did not specify his age.

A tweet from @DeryNews provided the names of the civilians injured: Mohammed Ata (male), Odai Mohammed Ata (male), Abd Al Karim Drousi (male), Mustafa Al Ali (male), Saddam Ata (male), Rahma Nassan (Female), Fouzi Taha (male).

North Press Agency put the number of civilians killed at three but added that seven civilians were killed, to varying degrees of severity.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that six rebels who were near the site of the attack were also injured.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, one of the shells struck a main street in the center of Kafr Nouran close to the municipality building while a second one landed near a street vendor on the road which connects Kafr Nouran and Maarat Al-Naasan. The Violations Documentation Center added that the victims were gathered near a car selling vegetables when the shelling occurred.

Images shared online show blood and shoes scattered on the road near a local street vendor.

Most reports directed blame for the attack towards the Syrian regime forces while other sources, including the Syrian Civil Defense, attributed the shelling to the Syrian regime and Russian forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights specifically blamed the regime forces stationed in the 46th Regiment in the western countryside of Aleppo for carrying out the shelling.

Damas Post reported that the shelling also resulted in an exodus of residents from the town and material damage.