Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS568

Incident date

February 8, 2016

Location

Hraytan, Aleppo, Syria

Geolocation

36.287032, 37.08332 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A media activist named as Zakariya Orfalli was reported killed by a single source.

According to the Syrian Network, “Monday 8th February 2016 media activist Zakariya Orfalli was killed by a missile shrapnel that went into different parts of his body as he was covering the bombing by fixed wing warplanes we believe are Russian in Hraitan city localed in the northern suburbs of Aleppo governorate which is under the control of the armed opposition factions.

Zakariya, also known as al Nesir al Souri or Mazen al Hur, worked previously as a media activist for Aleppo Media Center and Aleppo News Network. He recently joined Fajr Movement, an armed opposition faction, as a media activist. From Aleppo city, he was born in 1991, and had been a second year student at the politiical scienes institute in Damascus [prior to the uprising].”

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Zakariya Orfalli
Adult male reportedly a media activist killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Hraytan, for which the generic coordinates are: 36.287032, 37.08332. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Weak
    Single source claim, though sometimes featuring significant information.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military

Sources (2) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • Zakaria Orfali (via Almodon)

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

Russian Military

From February 4th – February 11th, Russia reported: “In the course of the last week, February 4-11, aircraft of the Russian aviation group in the Syrian Arab Republic have performed 510 combat sorties engaging 1,888 terrorists’ objects in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hasakah and Raqqah.” It added: “Two powerful field commanders were liquidated in the Aleppo province.In the suburbs of Kalaz-Tahtani, a large illegal armed group with its commander, “Abu Maher” (“Farid Al-Misri”) was eliminated by an airstrike.The field commander “Abu Anas Al-Sham” from the Jaysh al-Sham terrorist group was liquidated in the territory of the same province.” It also said that “Russian aviation eliminated open ISIS oil storages in the Aleppo province.”

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Weak
    Single source claim, though sometimes featuring significant information.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military

Sources (2) [ collapse]