On October 18, 2023, Syrian regime force used a rocket launcher to fire multiple rockets, including ones containing incendiary substances, targeting Termanein town in northern rural Idlib governorate, injuring three civilians, including a child. The attack also destroyed the town’s electricity transformer. The area is under the control of armed opposition factions and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that these attacks are of a retaliatory nature, with the regime ordering intensified bombardment of these areas in response to a bombing that targeted the regime’s Military College in Homs city on October 5, 2023.
Through indiscriminate or deliberate bombardment, the Syrian regime has violated international humanitarian law, as it failed to distinguish between civilian and military targets. SNHR has documented the use of incendiary weapons in hundreds of attacks against civilian areas, which caused severe burn injuries, and are a source of threat and terror for residents, especially children. The international community must intervene to protect civilians in Syria and act decisively to put an end to the use of such barbaric incendiary weapons.
