Airwars assessment
Up to 10 civilians were wounded and taken to hospitals in Homs, Syria after being hit by shrapnel from an explosion, allegedly as a result either of Israeli airstrikes or an accident, on an ammunition warehouse of Hezbollah within the camp of Hassan Bin Al Haitham on the road connecting Homs to Palmyra, Homs governorate, on May 1st, 2020.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said they received information that the explosion “was caused by a new Israeli missile strike, which targeted a warehouse of ammunition and missiles belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah in the camp of Hassan bin Al-Haytham located on the road of Homs – Palmyra. The sources of the Syrian Observatory confirmed that the camp “is for university training, but the Lebanese Hezbollah took it as headquarters a few years ago.”
However, there were different stories about the explosions that were heard in Homs. The Syrian regime said the explosion was a result of human error while moving ammunition there, which had then led to the explosion and the injury of a number of civilians who were passing at that time.
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a regime military source as saying “At 9:25 am on Friday, May 1st, 2020, successive explosions were heard at a military position in the city of Homs, and investigations revealed that these explosions occurred due to human error during the transportation of some ammunition”, the source said. He added that the explosions caused material and human losses due the shrapnel which scattered outside the military position.
But, the governor of Homs Talal Barazi said that “the sounds heard in Homs were caused by explosions in an ammunition depot as a result of an attack on the site. He stressed that the attack included a military site and its nature was not known yet, which led to explosions. Smoke columns emerged from the site, shells fell in its vicinity, and a number of passing civilians were wounded.”
Dr Hassan Al Jundi, Homs Health Director, told SANA that “10 injuries had arrived in public and private hospitals in the city as a result of falling flying missiles from the explosion that occurred at a military site, and the necessary aid was provided to them.”
Baladi News reported that a number of Hezbollah members were killed and injured as a result of the event. They said that nine militants including officers were killed.
Some of the injured civilians were locally named as Muhammad Ahmad Al Ahmad (amputated right leg), Muhammad Ali Ibrahim (two limbs amputated), Muhammad Yusef Milhem, (right hand and back injuries) and Muhammad Omar Hussein Askari who was said to have been in a stable condition.
The incident occured at approximately 9:25 am local time.
- Muhammad Ahmad Al-Ahmad Age unknown male Amputated right leg injured
- Muhammad Ali Ibrahim Age unknown Two amputated limbs injured
- Muhammad Yusef Milhem Age unknown Right hand and back injuries injured
- Muhammad Omar Hussein Askari Age unknown Stable condition injured
- Muhammad Ahmad Al Ahmad Age unknown male Right leg amputated injured
Summary
Sources (8) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (6) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the Hassan Bin Al Haitham (الحسن بن الهيثم) training camp, in the vicinity of the road connecting Homs (حمص) to Palmyra (تدمر). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for this camp are: 34.685734, 36.734848.