Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS624

Incident date

February 16, 2016

Location

الغنطو, Al Ghantu, Homs, Syria

Geolocation

34.82179, 36.69605 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

One male child, was killed in Al Ghantu, according to local sources. However reports were conflicted as to whether Russia or the regime were to blame, and most pointed towards Assad artillery. Only the Violations Documentation Center attributed the incident to Russia.

Homs Media Center named the victim, though didn’t say who was responsible. Koooookeh11 tweeted: “The canon that is stationed at the military school in Ghanto village which caused the death of Ra’fat Ahmad Al-Khawajah”.

All other sources blamed Assad, with Homs Al-Walid press agency saying that the child was killed by “six artillery bombs from the military school“.

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Child male Listed by VDC killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Ghantu (الغنطو), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.82179, 36.69605. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Infrastructure
    Education
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • 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 (7) [ 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

  • Infrastructure
    Education
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 child)
  • 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 (7) [ collapse]