Death on Orontes river banks
I. Introduction:
Darkosh town is related to Jisr Al Shoghour in Idlib governorate and located about 27 km away from Jisr Al Shoghour town that in under the control of armed opposition factions.
In this report we document a massacre in Darkosh town on the third day of Eid Al Fitr by suspected Russian forces. SNHR contacted families of the city, eyewitnesses, survivors and local media activists where we include three accounts. Additionally, we verified pictures and videos we received. We have explained the purpose of these interviews for the eyewitnesses and they gave us permission to use the information they provided in this report. We have copies of all the videos and pictures included in this report.
The investigations included in this report proved that the targeted areas were civilian areas and they are free of any military centers or weapons stores related to armed opposition factions and extremist Islamic organizations during or before the attack.
This report includes the bare minimum of magnitude of the violation that we were able to document and it doesn’t include the social, economic and psychological dimensions.
II. Details:
Friday 8 July 2016 about 10:30 am, missiles of suspected Russian warships targeted Darkosh town in the suburbs of Idlib governorate. The missile exploded in the sky and its shrapnel fell near civilian gathering on the banks of Orontes River in the town while the missile fell on the residential house on the opposite bank resulted in the death of some of its residences.
We documented the death of 27 civilians including two children and 11 women. Additionally, 13 houses were destroyed almost completely and the injury of about 53 individuals including three civil defense elements.