Geolocation
Airwars assessment
One child was killed and nine civilians injured in alleged YPG or Syrian regime artillery shelling on the city of Al Bab, Aleppo governorate on February the 8th.
At the start, local sources reported that at least nine civilians, including at least four children and three women, were injured in alleged YPG or Syrian regime artillery strikes on the city of Al Bab, Aleppo governorate, on February 8th, 2021. Some of the victims remain in critical condition.
Howeber, on February 12th, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Macro Media Center and @mohamed1aldaher reported that child Taim Maatarmawi died on February 12th of injuries he sustained on February 8th.
According to the Syrian Civil Defence (@SyriaCivilDefe), “10 civilians, including four children and two women, were wounded, some of them in critical condition, today, Monday, February 8, by an unknown-source missile strike, on the city of Al Bab in the eastern countryside of Aleppo. Our teams rescued the injured and worked to secure the place.”
According to a correspondent for Enab Baladi, the bombing took place around 6:30 PM and came from areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). @zakaria19972 tweeted: “10 wounded, including four children and three women, as a result of the YPG militia targeting the city of Al Bab, northeast of Aleppo, with missiles.”
Shahed Agency wrote that eight civilians were injured as the results from strikes with five missiles by the Qasd Militia, stationed in the outskirts of the city. Shahed Agency’s correspondent said that “civil defence teams transported the injured from the targeted places to the hospital in the city, and also recovered a wounded child from under the rubble as a result of the collapse of the house wall due to the bombing.”
The Syrian Arab News Agency, affiliated to the Syrian regime, wrote that “violent clashes with heavy weapons broke out this evening between the Turkish occupation forces and their mercenaries on the one hand and the “Qasd militia” on the other hand, causing the injury of at least 14 civilians, including 5 children and three women, and material losses to the homes, properties, and public properties of the people in the city of Al Bab and several villages in its vicinity.” It is unclear if the injury toll only includes civilian casualties in Al Bab.
Ahmad Ali Makra published the names of nine injured civilians, including four children and three women, on Facebook. @seerij80 posted a photo of an injured child on the ICU as the result of the strikes.
Shaam News Agency reported ten wounded, including a woman in a critical condition and four children, as the result of shelling on civilian residential areas. The missiles reportedly came from “the area of Al Sukkariyya and Al Urimah, which is considered a common area between the Assad regime and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).”
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said “A three-year-old child, named as Taim Obadah M’atramawi, from Ma’aret al Numan city in the southern suburbs of Idlib governorate, died on February 12th, 2021, due to wounds sustained on February 8th, 2021, when a Syrian regime missile launcher shelled a residential area in al Bab city in the eastern suburbs of the governorate. SNHR can confirm that the area attacked is a civilian area and is free of any military presence or equipment.”
@OtmanAlkneter reported nine injured, and said that the following areas had been targeted: “The side of the Great Mosque, beside Azraq Pharmacy” and “near El Kurdi Generator”. @IdlibPlus mentioned the use of rocket-propelled grenades.
While a few sources did not attribute blame for the strikes, most sources blamed the YPG for targeting the city of Al Bab. However, the Syrian Network for Human Rights blamed the Syrian regime for this incident. The source said “Syrian regime forces used a missile launcher to shell al Bab city in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate on February 8th, with the missiles that landed in residential areas and near the city’s al Kabir Mosque. As a result, ten civilians, including a child, were injured, while a number of residential buildings were partially destroyed and the mosque’s structure and furniture were partially damaged on February 8th.”
Also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights accused the Syrian regime, backed by Russian forces, of responsibility for the casualties and the incident. The source said that casualties took place as a result of “artillery shelling by the Manbij Military Council forces, which were carried out at Russian orders, on the town of Al-Bab, an area under the control of Turkish-backed factions in eastern Aleppo countryside.”
Shaam Network didn’t rule out a Syrian regime’s involvement in this incident when they said that missiles were fired from the area of al-Sukkariyya and al-Urimah, considered a common area between the Assad regime and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The incident occured at approximately 6:30 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (4)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Bab (الباب), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.371244, 37.515772. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.