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Airwars assessment
Between one and two civilians, including a child, were killed and between eight and 12 others, including three women and two children, were injured in alleged YPG or regime missile and artillery strikes on Afrin on July 15, 2021.
According to Syrian Civil Defense, two civilians were killed, including a child and a man, and 12 civilians were injured, including three women and two children, “as a preliminary outcome”. The Civil Defense teams “rescued the injured To the hospitals, the bodies of the dead were recovered to be handed over to their families”.
Media activist Rohat Muhammad told BasNews that “two people were killed, including a child, and 8 others were wounded when 6 missiles fell on Al-Zabadiyah neighborhood in the city of Afrin, the source of which is the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahra, which are under the control of the regime’s Shiite militias (Popular Defense) and Kurdish units.” He added that “a missile fell on the electricity tank, which caused the entire city to be cut off.”
Zaman Al Wasl reported that “the neighborhoods of “Al-Mahmoudiya” and “Al-Zaydiyah” in the center of “Afrin” were bombarded in the strikes. Afrin Media Center told 7al News that “the bombing was carried out in two waves, the first batch of missiles fell on the “Al-Zaydiyah neighborhood” and the street of Jindires Road, killing two people and wounding 11 others, then the shelling was renewed on the arc of the city and the village of “Jomke”.
@ShahbaPress and @mohmad_rasheed both identified one person as being killed in the strikes.
A post from Mustafa Sheikhou named some of the victims of the strikes that were injured: Masoud Rashid Hussein – 40 years old – Afrin; Mustafa Juma Samer Zainab – Afrin – 9 years old; Muhammad Ali Wamuna Wamouna, 60 years old, from Afrin; Salwa Haider Wamouna, 30 years old, from Afrin; Yassin Omar Khaled Intisar, 30 years old, Hama; Sally Sheikh Naasan, 18 years old, from Afrin; Emad Othman Mustafa, 40 years old, from Afrin; Muhammad Yusuf Taha – 35 years old – Idlib; Ziad Al-Omar Hussein, 35 years old, Idlib. At least one of the children injured, whose name was not identified, was in intensive care.
Afrin Media Center identified Kurdish civilian Radwan Jamil Hamid, from the village of Suya, as being a “victim” of the strike but does not specify whether he was killed or injured.
Shaam News reported that “activists stated that the bombing caused at least 15 wounded, including women and children, who were transferred to Afrin hospitals, including serious cases” and that “residential neighborhoods” were struck in the shelling.
Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strikes but the majority of sources attributed the strikes to the SDF/YPG. The Syrian Civil Defense identified the shells as “originating from the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the regime forces north of Aleppo” but did not assign blame. However, @ShahbaPress attributed the missiles to “the YPG militia” and @mohmad_rasheed tweeted about the casualties from “the bombing of SDF with vacuum missiles”. Anadolu Agency referred to both “the terrorist YPG/PKK organization” and “ISIS elements stationed in the city of Tal Rifaat” as carrying out the strikes while 7al News identified “government forces and the Iranian militia loyal to them” as responsible.
Rocket launchers and artillery shelling was reportedly used against Afrin according to various sources.
The incident occured in the evening.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
- Muhammad Ali Wamuna Wamouna 60 years old injured
- Salwa Haider Wamouna 30 years old injured
- Masoud Rashid Hussein 40 years old injured
- Mustafa Juma Samer and Zainab 9 years old injured
- Yassin Omar Khaled Intisar 30 years old injured
- Sally Sheikh Naasan 18 years old injured
- Emad Othman Mustafa 40 years old injured
- Muhammad Yusuf Taha 35 years old injured
- Ziad Al-Omar Hussein 35 years old injured
- Radwan Jamil Hamid Age unknown male killed
Summary
Sources (23) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (16) [ collapse]
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Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention strikes on the Al Mahmoudiya (المحمودية) and Al Zaydiyah (الزيدية) neighbourhoods of the city of Afrin (عفرين). The generic coordinates for Al Mahmoudiya are: 36.517240, 36.847741. The generic coordinates for Al Zaydiyah are: 36.518456, 36.857943. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.