Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

RS834

Incident date

June 3, 2016

Location

ﺣﻠﺐ, Al Castello road Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria

Geolocation

36.197971, 37.1656697 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between eight and 15 civilians died when a bus was struck on the Al Castello road, according to local sources – though reports were conflicted as to whether Russia or the Assad regime were to blame.

The Shaam News Network initially reported regime warplanes killed six civilians when they “fired near a bus on Al Castello Road“.

However, SNN later appeared to change their position and blamed Russia for the incident and suspected 10 civilians killed who were attempting to flee the city of Aleppo. In a second report by SNN the death toll was reported to have risen to 14. SNN later alleged both warplanes and helicopters were part of the offensive.

Syrian Human Rights Committee, Radio AlKul and Jisr TV all attributed the incident to Russia.

According to the video published by Jisr TV,Russian warplanes attacked a mini van on the Castello Road and killed 14 civilians, including children and women. There were 10 burned vehicles and the road is very dangerous.”

But other sources, including Qasioun and Syria News Desk, said that the regime was responsible, with Qasioun reporting that “regime planes threw an explosive barrel on Castello Road” which hit the bus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was among other sources who blamed warplanes, but did not identify them.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Castello road Aleppo (ﺣﻠﺐ), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.197971, 37.1656697. 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
    8 – 15
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 (20) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]

  • "warplanes target Castello road and Al-Jandoul with four missiles" (Tweet by @HalabTodayTV)
  • "More than 13 died in warplanes attack on Castello road" (Tweet by @longing4janna) The URL is no longer live, the image is a screengrab taken from Airwars archive.
  • "the civilians who died in regime air raids on Castello" (Via Qasioun News Agency Youtube)
  • A Youtube video posted by Jisrtv alleged 14 killed including women and children. They mentioned the burning of ten vehicles and noted the danger on the road. (Youtube by Jistrtv)

Russian Military Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

Russian Military

Russia has not reported any strikes between June 1st – 31st 2016.

Syrian Regime Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    8 – 15
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 (20) [ collapse]