2015 Douma massacre | |
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Part of Syrian Civil War | |
Location | Douma, Syria |
Coordinates | 33°34′20.15″N 36°24′06.52″E / 33.5722639°N 36.4018111°E / 33.5722639; 36.4018111 |
Date | 16 August 2015 (2015-08-16) |
Target | Civilians[1][2][3] |
Attack type | Airstrike |
Weapons | Missiles, Barrel bombs[4] |
Deaths | 96+[2] |
Injured | 200+[2][3][4] |
Perpetrator | Syrian Air Force[2][3] |
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On August 16, 2015, the Syrian Air Force[5] launched strikes on the rebel-held city of Douma, northeast of Damascus, killing at least 96 people and injuring at least 200 others.[2][6][7] It was one of the deadliest attacks to have occurred during the Syrian Civil War.[3]
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.[3] Initial airstrikes were reportedly followed shortly afterwards by surface-to-surface missiles which hit people who had rushed to the scene to help.[8]
I entered the market and the corpses were scattered everywhere, human remains thrown on the produce and vegetables, and under every box of tomatoes was a corpse or part of a corpse.
— Bassam al-Hakeem, a Douma-based photographer[9]
The bodies of sixty of the massacre victims were buried in two mass graves on the night of August 16.[10]
Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the air strikes as "an official massacre that was carried out deliberately."[3] 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.[1]
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.[2]
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."[11] 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."[12] United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura called the attacks "unacceptable", to which Syria responded by accusing him of "stray[ing] from neutrality".[13]
The massacre was also condemned by Britain, France, Germany and Qatar.[14]