The Atarib market massacre, Atarib market bombings or 2017 Atarib airstrike were three aerial bombardments on a

marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

in the

Syrian rebel A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the ongoing Syrian Civil War as belligerents. Syrian Arab Republic and allies A number of sources have emphasized that as of at least late-2015/early-2016 the Syrian Arab Republic ...

-held town of

Atarib Atarib ( ar, أتارب, ʾAtārib), also known as Atharib or Athareb, is a town in western Aleppo countryside, Aleppo Governorate, Syria. Located west of the city of Aleppo and southeast of Reyhanlı in Turkish-administered Hatay Province, it i ...

in the Aleppo Governorate of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

perpetrated on 13 November 2017, during the Syrian Civil War. These airstrikes hit a commercial street with a market and a police station. The bombings killed 84 civilians, including six women and five children, and injured another 150 people. Atarib was part of the "Safe Zone" established in September 2017. "Under the laws of war, police and police stations are presumptively civilian objects unless the police are taking a direct part in the hostilities",

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

said. Eyewitness reports claimed that the entire market, containing 100 shops, was destroyed in the explosions. They damaged or destroyed an area of approximately 5,000 sq metres. Weapons used were the unguided OFAB-500 fragmentation bomb, and the BETAB-500 unguided bunker buster bomb. On 6 March 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a public report confirming that these airstrikes were perpetrated by the Russian military. A Russian fixed-wing aircraft using unguided weapons, including blast weapons, were used against this location. The report concluded that using such heavy weapons on densely populated civilian areas may amount to a war crime.

Events

Between 14:07 and 14:11, the Atarib market and police station were targeted by three air strikes resulting in the death of at least 84 people and injuring of 150.

UN investigation

On 6 March 2018, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic was set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 22 August 2011 to investigate human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War to establish the facts ...

published a report on the attack, saying it was carried out by the Russian Air Force and may constitute a war crime. According to the Commission's report, "early warning observers monitored the take-off of a fixed-wing aircraft, whose pilots communicated in Russian, from Hemeimeem airbase at 1:37 p.m. and tracked the aircraft going south and then to the northeast all the way to Atarib where it arrived at 2:07 p.m". The report said the attack "may account to a war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in death and injury to civilians."

Human Rights Watch

"Under the laws of war, police and police stations are presumptuously civilian objects unless the police are taking a direct part in the hostilities",

Events

UN investigation

Human Rights Watch

See also

References

Further reading