Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS702

Incident date

March 2, 2016

Location

تدمر, Palmyra, Homs, Syria

Geolocation

34.5655244, 38.2873535 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Three civilians including one child and one woman died in airstrikes on Palmyra – though reports are conflicted as to whether this was the work of Russia or the Assad regime.

Shaam News reported that Moscow was responsible: “Russian enemy planes carried out more than 15 air raids on the city of Palmyra targeting civilian homes and causing deaths and injuries.” A series of tweets by independent sources also blamed Russia.

According to Syrian News Desk, “Russian jets launched more than 15 raids on the central and eastern neighborhoods of the city, killing four people, including a child and a woman, were killed and ten others were wounded, in addition to the widespread destruction in the houses.”

Smart News said Russian warplanes “launched 18 strikes with rockets on the city, aimed at the National Hospital, and the girls secondary school, public arena, and residential homes in the neighborhoods East and east, and the Red Valley, and the area around the officers housing, Palmyra castle, killing a woman and two children from the same family and wounding 11 others, who were taken to Raqqah to tend to their wounds.

However, other sources including RT, and the Syrian Network for Human Rights blamed regime warplanes.The Syrian Observatory did not say who the “warplanes” responsible belonged to.

Two victims were named by the Violations Documentation Center, which said they were killed in Russian strikes.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (2)

Ayat al-Ayad
Adult female killed
Son of Ayat al-Ayad
Child male killed

The victims were named as:

Name unknown
Child

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the city of Palmyra (تدمر), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.5655244, 38.2873535. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Infrastructure
    Healthcare
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 3
  • (1 child1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    11
  • 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 (17) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

  • Video shows the devastation in the al-Maliah area of the city of Palmyra as a result of the allegedbombardment by Russian planes (via Palmyra News Network).
  • Strikes targeting Palmyra (via Syria News Desk)
  • Aftermath of the strikes in Palmyra (via Aajil)

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

Russian Military

Russia has published no known record of strikes in Syria for March 1st to March 30th

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Infrastructure
    Healthcare
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 3
  • (1 child1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    11
  • 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 (17) [ collapse]