Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to five civilians died in airstrikes on Tel Rifa’at, according to local sources – though reports were conflicted as to whether this was the work of Russia or the Assad regime.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that multiple Russian warplanes targeted Aleppo on February 13th, adding that there were 20 strikes on Tel Rifa’at, but they did not report any casualties. Shahba Press also blamed Russia for carrying out more than 20 strikes, and put the death toll at five.
But according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights at least five victims died when regime warplanes missiles fired on Tel Rifa’at. Step News Agency referred to strikes by both Russian warplanes and Syrian military helicopters.
One victim was named by the Violations Documentation Center.
The VDC later named five other victims killed in a Russian strike.
According to a tweet by Sharafabood, an “Emir of Jabhat el Nusra, Abdul Salam el Sun“, was also killed. Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies also named him as killed in a Russian strike.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Tall Rif`at (تل رفعت), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.472576, 37.096272. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (13) [ collapse]
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
From February 10th – February 16th, Russia reported: “On February 10-16, aircraft of the Russian aviation group in the Syrian Arab Republic have performed 444 combat sorties engaging 1593 terrorists’ objects in the provinces of Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Aleppo.”