(Previous Incident Code: R4734)

On Saturday, 30 November 2024, an alleged Russian airstrike hit the town of Morek in the Hama governorate of Syria, reportedly killing six civilians, including two women and a child: Abdul Aziz Abdo al-Mansour (Abu Mudar), Abdul Karim Ahmad al-Othman (Abu Sha’lan), women Malka Husein Abu Salim al-Tamer and Zakiya al-Bakour (Umm Nader), a child Jana Houthayfa Al-Hissawi, and a son of Mohammad al-Yassin, and injuring three others, including two children of Majed Faisal and another civilian, Osama Ahmad Shaha. Responsibility for the strike, which also damaged a water station, was attributed to Russian military forces.

Information about the attack began circulating on Sunday, with a post on X/Twitter by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, reporting a death toll of four people and damage to a water station. The Facebook account “Mork News Moment by Moment” published further details on the victims, identifying them as Azzouz Mansour, a member of the Hassawi family (most probably being Jana al-Hassawi mentioned in another post), the son of Mohammad al-Yaseen (age unknown); Abdul Karim Ahmad Al-Othman, and a further individual member of the Hassawi family or the wife of Khaled al-Tamer (most probably being Malka al-Tamer mentioned in another post).

The Facebook post by “the city of Mork Al-Ezz” provided an additional list of the casualties, including Abdul Aaziz (Azzouz) Abdo al-Mansour (Abu Mudar), Abdul Karim Ahmad al-Othman (Abu Sha’lan), Malka Husein Abu Salim al-Tamer, Zakiya al-Bakour (Umm Nader), and Jana Houthayfa al-Hassawi.

The death of Abdulaziz Abdo Al Mansour was mourned in an obituary post by the “Mork Obituaries Page” Facebook account, which included an image of the middle-aged man with dark hair and a dark beard dressed in a black T-shirt and grey trousers sitting in a garden.

The injured were reported as the sons of Majed Faisal (age unknown) and Osama Ahmad Shaha (age unknown).

The strike appears to have taken place the day after Syrian revolutionary factions took control of the town. The incident was also reported by Mohammed Obeid, correspondent for the Idlib Post, who was filming on the International Highway M5 outside of Morek. In the video, the journalist is seen ducking down on the road for cover as a large column of smoke rises in the distance, followed by the sound of an explosion. Mohammed said the following in his reporting: “An airstrike hit our location while we were covering Morek in the northern Hama countryside. We are now inside the city of Morek. This city was taken over by the revolutionary factions during a deterrence operation.{..} While we were covering these events and developments, we were exposed to an airstrike inside the city of Morek. We are now in the city and are still covering it. The revolutionary factions continued the clashes in Jabal Zain al-Abidin in the Hama countryside, which overlooks the city of Hama directly.”

Al-Arabiya Lebanon correspondent Mohammed Al Ashqar filmed the strike from a distance, pointing at a large cloud of white smoke billowing in the sky on the horizon. At the beginning of his video, a loud explosion was heard.

Other available images showed smoke billowing over a residential area and the aftermath, with damaged civilian buildings and rubble littering the streets.

All sources identifying the perpetrators agreed that the attack was carried out by Russian fixed-wing military aircraft.