Conclusion
Based on open source information it is possible to identify the exact location Omran Daqneesh was rescued, and the buildings destroyed in the attack. It is clear that the Russian Defence Ministry’s statement bears little relation to facts on the ground, as verified using open source information. As with previous Russian Defence Ministry denials related to its bombing campaign in Syria (including denials it bombed a mosque, hospital, and used cluster and incendiary bombs), these denials can be at best described as misleading, and at worst totally false.
ConclusionTranslations: Русский
Another video from Orient YouTube channel showing a rescuer from the white helmets team also stating that the area was hit by an airstrike. He mentioned 6 casualties and many injured as a result of it.
The reports also included a photo of little boy called Omran Daqneesh who was rescued as a result of an alleged airstrike on the building where he used to live with his family. The photo and video brought a lot of attention to the incident, resulting in coverage by international news agencies such as Reuters, New York Times, Telegraph, and Spiegel, as well as broad coverage on social media platforms. Casualties were also reported. Omran’s brother was one of them. The following video shows an interview with a surgeon who was describing the situation of Omran’s brother when he arrived to his field hospital.
On August 19th, 2016 the Russian Defence Ministry issued a statement following reports about alleged Russian airstrike that hit a civilian building in Al-Qaterji district in Aleppo.
The statement of the Russian Defence Ministry includes the following claims:
“We have repeatedly stressed that the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic do not make strikes against targets inside inhabited areas.”
“All the more, this rule is applied to the district Al-Quaterji of the Aleppo city, mentioned by the western media, and located in the vicinity of the recently opened humanitarian corridors used by civilians for safe leaving the city.”
“The form of damage of the building showed by the western TV-channels during the rescue operation of “the young boy Omran” and the unaffected windows in the next building, which is several meters to the first one, testifies to the fact that if there was a strike, it was not an air bomb, but a mine or a gaz [sic] cylinder widely used by terrorists in this region.”
“These are the unmasking facts which the “pro-oppositional volunteers” from the so-called “Aleppo medical centre” did not thought out describing in fluent English their tear-jerking “feats” in the Aleppo districts controlled by terrorists.”
“Yesterday, the leading western media agencies published video footage and photos of the rescue operation of the 5-year-old boy called Omran from a destroyed building in the district Al-Quarterji blocked by terrorists in the#Aleppo city. Referring to “activists” and “volunteers” of the “Aleppo medical centre” it was said that the building had been destroyed by an airstrike carried out by the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the evening on August 17.”
In this article we will go through the claims of the Russian ministry of defense and compare it with open source materials (photos, videos, reports) that we have collected and verified to understand better what really happened in the evening on August 17, 2016.
Humanitarian Corridors
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that Al-Qaterji district is located directly next to two corridors opened recently through humanitarian operation coordinated by Russia.
Continued at https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/09/01/fact-checking-russias-claim-didnt-bomb-5-year-old-syria/
Filed under: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, Information operations, Information Warfare, Propaganda, Russia Tagged: #RussiaFail, #RussiaLies, CounterPropaganda, information warfare, propaganda, Russia, Russian propaganda, Syria
