Airwars assessment
Between six and eight civilians, including a woman and up to three children, were injured by alleged Syrian Democratic Forces shelling of the city of Azaz of January 20, 2023.
The @SyriaCivilDefe reported that six people, including a child and a woman, were injured by artillery shelling coming from areas controlled by the Syrian regime and the Syrian Democratic Forces. The @SyriaCivilDefe later revised their toll to eight people injured, including three children and a woman. @mzmgr941 tweeted the same total of eight civilians injured, including a woman and two children.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights stated that six people were injured and that they were members of the Civil Police, while other local sources also referred to “police officers” being injured. The Syrian Network for Human Rights specified that of the seven civilians injured, four were civilian police officers.
@Obaida161999 provided an image with the names of the civilians wounded: 1- Fouad Hamdi son of Mahmoud 54 years old, leg injuries; 2- Mahmoud Al Ojeli 20 years old, shoulder injuries; 3- Thuraya Haj Hasan 40 years old (woman), shoulder injuries; 4- Mohamad Ahmad Khalaf 17 years old, neck injuries;
5- Louai Mohamed Meryamin, 31 years old, back injuries; 6- Mohamed Nour Faysal Idress, 21 years old, back injuries.
@alkhabour21 tweeted that the shelling occurred in the vicinity of the National Hospital in Azaz, and @Razak0000 referred to the shelling as having occurred in residential neighborhoods. Baladi News correspondent in Aleppo countryside added that the shelling affected the “Tal Rifaat” area and the southern neighborhood of the city, partially destroying some properties.
According to @mzmgr941, the shelling occurred to “prevent the revolutionary popular demonstrations in the city”.
All of the sources that reported on the incident attributed the strikes to the SDF or areas controlled by the SDF and regime forces. @AlTareek22 stated that artillery and missile shells were launched against the city of Azaz.
The incident occured in the morning.
The victims were named as: