Location Douma, Syria Attack type Airstrike Deaths 96+ | Target Civilians Weapons Missiles, Barrel bombs | |
Date 16 August 2015 (2015-08-16) | ||
On August 16, 2015, the Syrian Air Force launched strikes on the rebel-held city of Douma, northeast of Damascus, killing at least 96 people and injuring at least 200 others. The attack is one of the deadliest in the four-year history of the Syrian Civil War.
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The bombing
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, four separate missiles were fired in the strikes, which struck the main market in the town during rush hour. Initial airstrikes were reportedly followed shortly afterwards by surface-to-surface missiles which hit people who had rushed to the scene to help.
The bodies of sixty of the massacre victims were buried in two mass graves on the night of August 16.
Reactions
Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the air strikes as "an official massacre that was carried out deliberately." A Syrian military source told Reuters that the country's air force had carried out strikes in Douma and Harasta that targeted the headquarters of the rebel group Jaysh al-Islam.
The Turkey-based Syrian political opposition group, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, said the attack aimed at inflicting as many civilian casualties as possible.
Stephen O'Brien, the United Nations' most senior humanitarian official, said he was horrified by the attacks and reiterated that "attacks on civilians are unlawful, unacceptable and must stop." Jeffrey Feltman, the UN political chief, told the U.N. Security Council that Sunday's attack "would be yet one more war crime for which those responsible must be held accountable." United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura called the attacks "unacceptable", to which Syria responded by accusing him of "stray[ing] from neutrality".
The massacre was also condemned by Britain, France, Germany and Qatar.