Drone attack kills 80 and wounds 240 at a packed Syrian military graduation ceremony, official says

In a grievous incident that transpired on Thursday, a drone attack targeted a densely populated military commencement ceremony within the Syrian city of Homs. The aftermath of this tragic event, as reported by the nation’s health minister, has left a somber toll, with 80 individuals losing their lives and a further 240 sustaining severe injuries. This calamitous attack represents one of the most devastating assaults to have afflicted an army mired in a protracted civil conflict spanning over a decade.

Tragically, among the victims were civilians, including six innocent children, alongside military personnel. Concerns loom over the potential escalation of the casualty count, as numerous of the wounded remain in critical condition, as disclosed by Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabash.

Syria’s military apparatus, in an antecedent declaration, attributed the attack to explosive-laden drones that ruthlessly targeted the ceremony. This gathering, replete with young officers and their families, bore witness to the ominous strike as it was drawing to a close. While refraining from explicitly implicating any specific group, the military ascribed the responsibility for the attack to insurgents allegedly bolstered by recognized international entities. In response, the military vowed to retaliate resolutely against these terrorist organizations, irrespective of their geographical presence.

At present, no group has immediately claimed responsibility for this harrowing incident, casting a grim shadow over Syria as it navigates its thirteenth year of ceaseless turmoil.

The gravity of the situation has garnered international attention, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressing profound concern regarding the drone attack in Homs. Additionally, reports of retaliatory shelling in northwest Syria have further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. Guterres unequivocally condemned all forms of violence and implored for a nationwide cessation of hostilities.

The Syrian military has yet to furnish official casualty figures, but Syria’s state television has announced a three-day state of mourning, commencing on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-affiliated war monitoring group based in Britain, as well as the pro-government Sham FM radio station, were among the entities that initially reported on the strikes.

The genesis of Syria’s protracted crisis can be traced back to March 2011, when peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad’s government metamorphosed into a full-fledged civil war following a brutal crackdown on demonstrators. A pivotal shift in favor of President Assad’s regime occurred in 2015, with crucial military backing from Russia, Iran, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

To date, the conflict has exacted an agonizing toll, claiming the lives of half a million individuals, inflicting grievous injuries upon hundreds of thousands, and causing extensive devastation across the nation. Furthermore, the conflict has forcibly displaced more than half of Syria’s prewar population, which numbered 23 million, with over 5 million becoming refugees beyond Syria’s borders.

While a number of Arab governments have re-established diplomatic ties with the Damascus government, Syria remains partitioned. The northwest region is under the sway of al-Qaida-linked militants affiliated with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and Turkish-backed opposition fighters. Meanwhile, the northeastern part of the country is under the control of the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

It is noteworthy that Homs, the site of the drone attack, is situated deep within government-held territory, distanced from the active front lines where governmental and rebel forces persistently engage in skirmishes.

In the wake of the drone assault, Syrian government forces unleashed shelling upon villages in Idlib province, located in the northwest. Tragically, this resulted in at least 10 civilians sustaining injuries in the towns of Al-Nayrab and Sarmin, situated to the east of Idlib city, as reported by the opposition-held northwestern Syria’s civil defense organization, known as the White Helmets. Regrettably, the military’s shelling also inflicted grievous harm in other areas within this enclave.

In a prelude to the drone attack over Homs, the Syrian army bombarded a village in the region earlier on that fateful Thursday. This onslaught claimed the lives of at least five civilians, as attested by activists and emergency responders. The shelling targeted a family residence on the periphery of the village of Kafr Nouran, nestled in western Aleppo province, as corroborated by the Syrian Observatory.

This tragic incident resulted in the untimely demise of a woman and four of her children, while nine other family members suffered injuries.

The overwhelming majority of the approximately 4.1 million individuals inhabiting northwestern Syria endure conditions of abject poverty, relying heavily on humanitarian assistance to subsist. Many of these individuals are Syrians who have been internally displaced by the relentless conflict, hailing from various parts of the nation.

In the northeastern expanses of Syria, local authorities reported Turkish drone strikes impacting Hassakeh and Qamishli provinces on that ill-fated Thursday. These attacks targeted critical infrastructure, including oil production facilities, electrical substations, and a dam. A statement from local Kurdish authorities conveyed the grievous toll, with six members of their security forces and five civilians succumbing to the onslaught.

In a parallel development, three U.S. officials divulged that a U.S. F-16 fighter jet had intercepted and downed a Turkish drone. The interception occurred after the drone had ventured perilously close to U.S. positions in Hassakeh, having previously engaged in bombing runs within nearby areas. The United States maintains an approximate deployment of 900 troops in Syria, primarily to combat the remnants of the Islamic State group.

While Turkey refrained from immediate commentary regarding these strikes, it is noteworthy that Ankara has long asserted that the main Syrian Kurdish militia maintains an alliance with Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984, resulting in a substantial loss of life. Turkey has formally designated the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Notably, Syrian Kurdish forces had played a pivotal role as a principal ally of the United States in the campaign against the Islamic State group, culminating in the group’s defeat in Syria in March 2019.

(Reporting by Aji from Damascus, Syria, and contributions from Ghaith Al-Sayed, a Big Big News reporter based in Idlib, Syria.)

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More about Syria Drone Attack

• Syrian Civil War – Wikipedia
• UN Chief Expresses Concern Over Drone Attack in Homs, Syria – Voice of America
• Syria’s Civil War Explained – BBC News
• Syrian Crisis: A Visual Guide – Council on Foreign Relations
• Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
• Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – Council on Foreign Relations
• International Crisis Group: Syria
• The Conflict in Syria – Al Jazeera
• Syria’s War: Children, Security, and Conflict-Driven Displacement – Human Rights Watch
• Russia in Syria: War or Peace? – Council on Foreign Relations
• U.S. Troops in Syria: A Guide to the Mission – Council on Foreign Relations