Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS621

Incident date

February 15, 2016

Location

غرناطة, Garnata, Homs, Syria

Geolocation

34.8937633, 36.6794443 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Up to three civilians including one girl and two women were killed in an airstrike on Garnata according to two local sources – though reports are conflicted as to whether Russia or the regime carried out the attack.

In a news roundup, the Shaam News Network reported that “Russian enemy planes carried out air raids on the towns of Al Ghinto, Umm Sharshouh, Ghiranata and Talbissa in the northern Homs countryside which led to the fall of two martys in Ghirnata and in response to these raids the rebels targeted Assad’s positions in brigade 26.”

Syriapc News and 811Syria also blamed Russia – with the latter source saying that there were three strikes with cluster bombs.

However, the Syrian Network for Human Rights put the death toll slightly higher at three and said that the regime warplanes were responsible for the death of a girl and two women. Three unidentified victims were listed by the Violations Documentation Center as killed by “airforce shelling”:

Unidentified 1 – adult, female

Unidentified 2 – adult, female

Unidentified 3 – child, female

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Garnata (غرناطة), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.8937633, 36.6794443. 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
    2 – 3
  • (1 child2 women)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (6) [ collapse]

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

Russian Military

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.”

Syrian Regime Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Syrian Regime
  • Syrian Regime position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 3
  • (1 child2 women)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    Russian Military, Syrian Regime

Sources (6) [ collapse]