A two-year-old girl, named as Nesrin Na’san al Na’san, her 28-year-old mother, Fatimah Hussein al Waisi, and a seven-year-old girl, Mariam Basel al Abboud, were killed while 10 other civilians were injured when fixed-wing warplanes, which we believe were Russian, fired missiles near a house and tents of displaced civilians who work as shepherds in al Nahr al Abyad area, which is administratively a part of Jisr al Shoghour city in the western suburbs of Idlib governorate, at dawn on January 1, 2022.
SNHR notes that the displaced persons are from Rajm al Emeirat village in the southern suburbs of Aleppo governorate, with the bombardment severely damaging the tents they were living in, as well as killing a number of their sheep.
SNHR notes that this shelling breaches the ceasefire agreement reached following consultations between the Turkish and Russian presidents, which came into effect on March 6, 2020.
Through this action, Russian forces have, without doubt, committed another violation of Security Council resolutions 2139 and 2254 which prohibit any further indiscriminate attacks, as well as violating the rules of international humanitarian law which stress the distinction between civilians and combatants. Attacks of this nature spread terror and panic among civilians, leading them to flee their lands and homes in an attempt to reach safety, and forcibly displacing them, with the number of internally displaced persons within Syria currently standing at approximately 6.5 million Syrian citizens in total. The international community should put pressure on the Syrian regime and its allies to force them to compensate the displaced victims, rehabilitate homes and vital centers, support the process of political transition, and press all parties to pursue implementation of political transition according to a strict timetable which must not exceed six months, thus enabling millions of refugees and IDPs to return homes.
Photo showing damage to one of the IDP tents at the site bombed by Russian planes.
Photo showing a number of sheep killed by Russian air raids.
