{"id":1984,"date":"2015-01-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=1984","title":{"rendered":"Over 100 casualties within 24 hours: Assad warplanes commit horrific attacks in Hasakah, Idlib and Homs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nRead the release here<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn the 20th and 21st of January, 2015, the air force of the Assad regime committed three attacks over less than 24 hours. The first attack was carried by warplanes against the city of Saraqeb, which is located in the north of Syria and belongs to the Idlib governorate. In contrast, combat helicopters were involved in the second attack on the northeastern town of Khansa (close to the city of Hasakah). Helicopters also struck Hula city, close to the city of Homs. The three attacks combined resulted in over 100 deaths and over 150 wounded.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nKhansa attack (Hasakah Province)<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt around 12:30 pm on Monday the 20th of January, 2015, Syrian air force combat helicopters attacked a livestock (sheep) and food market in Khansa. The town of Khansa belongs to the Tal Hamis municipality and is located in the countryside around Hanakah. Amongst local people, the sheep market is also known as the “Tim” market. People who cannot enter areas controlled by the Assad regime have set up this makeshift and popular market.\n<\/p>\n

\nMonitors from the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) stressed that a helicopter that carried out the bombing had previously surveyed the area around 11 am. Both at this time and at the time of the attack, the target area was crowded with civilians. This strongly suggests that the civilians were killed in a premeditated attack. In the actual attack, Assad forces launched seven barrel bombs and fifteen cluster bombs. As a result, sixty people died of the initial blasts and over one hundred people were wounded.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe bodies of the victims, as well as those wounded in the attack, were transferred to a number of field hospitals. These field hospitals included Al Houl hospital and a number of other hospitals in the town of Al Shaddadi. Some others were brought to the As-Salaam hospital in the city of Qamishli on the Turkish border. The medical staff in these hospitals was overwhelmed by the sudden outpour of need. In particular, the staff struggled to carry out the many necessary amputations and to stem the heavy bleeding of some victims. This situation was aggravated by the shortage of both staff and supplies, and led to further unnecessary loss of life.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe town of Khansa, in which the attack took place, is under siege by Syrian regime forces. ISIS controls the town, but any legitimate military target was at least 1500 meters away from where the attack occurred. ISIS currently also controls Shaddadi and Markada (both south of Hasakah), Jebel Abdulaziz to the west, and the town of Al Houl to the East. Hasakah itself is divided between the People’s Protection Units (the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, PYD) and Syrian regime forces.\n<\/p>\n

\nBy the end of Thursday, the 22nd of January, DCHRS monitors recorded 75 casualties from the Khansa attack. The majority of the victims remain unidentified, because of the state in which their bodies were found. A list of names shall be published if and when these become known. Given that both the Syrian regime and ISIS target DCHRS, the monitors continue to face grave difficulty in obtaining accurate reports.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nSaqareb Attack (Idlib Province)<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nAt 2:30 pm on Monday, the 20th of January, a “Sukhoi” type warplane fired three fuel-air explosive missiles on civilian targets in Saqareb. The area most affected was the industrial district, which was also the place with the highest number of victims. At least seven individuals were killed in the air raids, out of which the identity of only four could be confirmed by the time this report was prepared. In addition, more than twenty people were wounded by the attack.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe wounded were taken to a field hospital close to Saqareb, which faced a severe shortage of medical supplies. The attack also set a number of houses ablaze. Civil defense teams affiliated with the opposition-controlled Saqareb city council eventually extinguished the fire.\n<\/p>\n

\nBy the end of Thursday, the 22nd of January, DCHRS monitors recorded seven deaths. The four people who have been identified were:\n<\/p>\n