The White Helmets released a report on Wednesday, detailing the civilian casualties and the air and ground targets, including internationally banned weapons, used by regime forces and Russia in their attacks on liberated areas in northwestern Syria during the past month of October.
According to the report, the campaign of escalation and heavy shelling by regime forces and Russia in October led to the tragic loss of 66 lives, including 23 children and 13 women. Additionally, over 270 individuals were injured, among them 79 children, 47 women, and 3 volunteers from the White Helmets.
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The report further revealed that two massacres occurred during this period, with most of the victims being children and women. The first massacre took place on Sunday, October 22 when artillery fire struck a tent near a residential house in the village of al-Qarqour in the al-Ghab Plain, northwest of Hama. This attack resulted in the deaths of 5 children, including 3 brothers and their cousin’s child, as well as another child who went missing while playing with the children who were killed.
The second massacre occurred on October 24th when Russian warplanes targeted the Ahl Saraqeb camp in the village of al-Hamama in the western countryside of Idleb. This attack claimed the lives of five civilians, including two pregnant sisters, their grandmother, and two infants, while injuring five others, including three children, one of whom was an infant, and two elderly men.
The report highlighted that in October, civil defence teams responded to 287 attacks by regime forces and Russia, which included 160 artillery attacks, more than 70 rocket attacks utilizing hundreds of artillery shells and rockets, 30 air attacks from Russian warplanes, nine attacks with internationally banned incendiary weapons, one attack with cluster bombs, which are also internationally prohibited, two guided missile attacks, and a long-range surface-to-surface missile attack.
Furthermore, the report indicated that the shelling launched by regime forces and Russia targeted dozens of public facilities and civilian homes in more than 70 cities and towns in northwestern Syria. This included the direct targeting of over 13 schools, more than seven medical facilities, five mosques, five camps, five popular markets, and four centers for the White Helmets. In addition to these, a center for women’s and family health, a power station, three water stations, and threee poultry farms were also affected by the shelling.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
