Syria – New wave of Russian air attacks hits belt of towns west of Idlib

Location: Idlib countryside – Syria

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:04:39

Voice: Natural

Source: A24 northern Syria

Restriction: A24 subscribers

Date: 08/09/2022

Storyline:

Six Russian warplanes conducted 16 air raids over Idlib’s western countryside. War monitors say the raids killed at least five civilians and wounded more than 15 others, including children.

The Russian aerial bombardment targeted a  belt of towns, including Hafsarjah, Armanaz, Sheikh Bahr, and Sahel al-Roj, west of Idlib, causing panic among civilians.

Local sources told A24 that Russian raids targeted camps, informal housing, and some stone-cutting facilities in an area devoid of military headquarters for the armed opposition.

The bombing coincided with an intense flight of more than 3 Russian reconnaissance planes.

Working with residents, Syrian Civil Defense [known as the White Helmets] rushed to bombing sites removing the victim under continued Russian bombing. Rescue workers continue to search for survivors under the rubble of the Russian bombing.

Shot list:

Soundbite (Mohamed Nasr El-Din – Director of Hafsarja Civil Defense Center):

“Russian warplanes targeted the northwest areas of Idlib, specifically the villages of Quneitra and Khafsarja, a sawmill, and a residential building. Our teams have so far removed seven injuries and four dead people from the rubble. We faced great difficulty because of the continued strikes on the area. the removal of the of the victims from the rubble and helping the injured lasted for about an hour and a half, and we took them all to the hospitals in Idlib city. The most prominent difficulties we faced were the double strikes and the continuation of the bombing that delayed our arrival to the dead and wounded.”

Soundbite (Muhammad Al-Ali – one of the victims’ neighbors and a witness to the massacre):

“We were sitting in Kafr Takharim when we heard the sound we expected was shelling. When we turned on the TV to follow the local news in the Kafr Takharim area, we heard that the air strike targeted civilians in the sawmill. The area here is completely devoid of any military camps or strongholds. There is only this civil sawmill and its workers. In this Russian strike, 6 people were killed and three children under the age of eleven were injured, and you can see the effects of destruction everywhere. This material damage can be compensated, but the big loss is the victims we lost.”