At least seven civilians, including three to four children and a woman, were killed and seven other civilians, including two children and one to two women, were injured in alleged Russian or regime artillery shelling the morning of July 22, 2021.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “the strikes have killed seven civilians including a woman and three children, in the morning, in a new ground bombardment by the regime forces on two neighborhoods in Ibleen village”. They also added that “the number of deaths is expected to rise because some of those wounded sustained serious injuries.”
Syrian Civil Defense also reported that seven civilians were killed, including 4 children and a woman, and “7 others were wounded, including two girls and a woman, all of them from the same family.”
Activist “Abdul Razzaq Al-Madhi” from the village of “Iblin” said in an interview with “Zaman Al-Wasl” that “7 others were wounded, including two girls and two women, as a result of the bombing”.
Step News Agency referred to “children, women and the elderly, from the Harmoush family” as being among the seven civilians killed.
@NagiNajjar tweeted the names of the victims who were killed: Emad Fouad Harmoush (man), Fouad Mustafa Harmoush (man), Khadija Mustafa Al-Fouad (child), Alaa Mustafa Al-Fouad (child), Maryam Mustafa Al-Fouad (child), Fouad Mustafa Harmoush (Child), Fatima Nimr (Mustafa’s wife). A tweet from @77yBFnqQYzUS2Ot identified Fouad Mustafa Harmoush as being the grandfather.
Civil Defense volunteer Hossam Al-Sheikh talked about the moments of saving the two girls, Hanadi and her sister Doaa Mustafa Harmoush, from under the rubble of their house in Iblin, south of Idlib: “At the moment of a call, defense, evacuate the place. It will return to work. The option that follows immediately and without thinking, we must take is evacuation, but when you see the eyes of two children under the rubble, the look of fatigue, pain and fear, and a voice crying “Don’t leave us”, here is over. The decision is no longer thought of, and the only option is that We don’t leave, either we follow before the double targeting or we are a victim with them, at this moment I felt them my daughters, how do we want to leave our daughters and evacuate the place, our fate is their fate if what happened. The situation is very difficult and the options are even more difficult, and thank God, we were able this time to catch up with them before the bombing is repeated and we evacuate the place, but at the same moment we looked at them, I remembered my fellow volunteers whom we lost, and many of them in the same position today lost their lives by the double bombing.”
Rozana News reported that one Syrian woman exclaimed “Oh, they died, all of them,” upon her arrival to check on her family’s home, which was destroyed by artillery shelling. They mention another video clip showing “a child in Ibelin, crying when inspecting the bodies of his father and grandfather, and screaming, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I want to see my grandfather.. Oh, my grandfather, my grandfather.”
Shaam News Network also reported that the White Helmets “indicated that the bombing was carried out with laser-guided shells (Krasnopol), and pointed out that its field teams rescued the injured and retrieved the bodies from under the rubble of their house.”
Sources were conflicted as to who was responsible for the strikes. While various sources, including Shaam News Network, attribute the bombings to both Russia and the regime, a tweet from @abuhuzaifa_ blamed Russia in contrast to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who identified the regime as being responsible.
Just after the massacre, a convoy of Turkish military vehicles passed near the site, a video posted by @syriapostnew1 shows.
The incident occured in the morning.
