Attack on Red Crescent convoy in Urm al-Kubra



A Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy was attacked at a warehouse in Urm al-Kubra west of Aleppo around 7:30 pm on September 19, 2016, half and hour after the 7 day ceasefire ended and the Syrian and Russian air forces restarted airstrikes. 20 out of 30 trucks were said to be destroyed with some 10 people killed.

The convoy came from government controlled west Aleppo. The convoy was monitored by a Russian reconnaissance drone with real time streaming on YouTube. Activist say the aid was meant for "Syrian Christians". It is possible some of it was possible on its way to the besieged Kafarya and al-Fu'ah further to the west.

Activist claims

 * مجزرة أورم الكبرى 19-9-2016 (Urm Kubra massacre 19/09/2016) - Syrian Civil Defense - Aleppo (Facebook)
 * ''Today, at 7:12 PM, regime helicopters targeted a Syrian Red Crescent warehouse in the town of Urem in the western countryside of Aleppo
 * ''A total of four regime helicopters targeted it with 8 barrel bombs.
 * ''Russian aircraft then stuck the location with cluster bombs, preventing the civil defense from reaching the location of the attack, giving first aid to those requiring it and removing the dead bodies.
 * ''25 vehicles have been burnt and the fire has not yet been put out.
 * ''The head of the Syrian Red Crescent, Omar Barakat, was killed along with eight of his staff.
 * ''More than ten drivers have been burned to death.
 * ''The video was recorded this evening by a member of the civil defense at the location of the attack.


 * Comments heard on the video: first attack, 'regime helicopter with 4 barrels'; second attack, 'regime attacked this place again'

Video

 * Aid convoys up in flames in rural west Aleppo. Civil Defence at scene describe what happened FSA Platform - White Hemlet at the scene, night-time, fires burning, speaking in English at the Red Crescent center, he blames helicopters for the first part of the attack, gets cut off before explaining the second attack.
 * The moment of the bombing of a convoy of Russian warplanes of the Syrian Red Crescent aid in the major town of Orme in the countryside of Aleppo # (full dark, fires already burning, seen from a distance, then a powerful double blast, possible jet noise preceding - video starts just seconds before this and goes for 3:00 after)
 * Centre of the Syrian Red Crescent, which has been the main target dozens of air strikes from warplanes (burning wreckage)
 * Aerial bombardment on the Aleppo province kills 32 civilians, targeting a convoy of humanitarian aid (Euronews Arabic report, varied footage)
 * Russian reconnaissance drone monitoring Syrian ceasefire (Streamed live) - RT, Streamed live 11 hours ago
 * The effects of mass winning at the Red Crescent building by the Russian air raids overnight Next-day site video shows bombing effects and location
 * The video at 1:00:20 shows the warehouse with the trucks. (screenshots)

Photo

 * Jake Godin on Twitter: Daylight photos from site where @SYRedCrescent was bombed yesterday in western #Aleppo starting to emerge. Here are some from @AleppoAMC"
 * more from the same user

News

 * The Latest: Airstrikes hit aid convoy in Aleppo province - AP, September 19, 2016
 * ''The aid convoy was part of a routine dispatch from government-held Aleppo to rural rebel-held parts of the province. There was no immediate comment from the government.
 * Elizabeth Tsurkov ‏@Elizrael on Twitter
 * ''The trucks left regime-held areas. Their exit was coordinated with the regime. Russian drones w cameras followed the convoy's movements.


 * Syria conflict: US 'outraged' over aid convoy attack - BBC'', September 20, 2016
 * ''The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said the attacks were carried out by either Syrian or Russian aircraft.
 * ''It added the dead included the Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers and drivers.
 * ''The UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said if the "callous attack" was found to be deliberate it would amount to a war crime.

Location

 * Live UA Map - with video
 * WikiMapia
 * Source: The @SYRedCrescent at these intersections in Kafr Naha/Oram al-Kubra


 * Russian drone footage (stills) shows the trucks parked at the location above and at this facility further east, just east of Urm alKubra. If these images were taken at the same time, the convoy was divided. By shadows, the solar azimuth when the drome passed was about 225 deg., equating to a time of about 2:25 pm. This may be where they remained at the time of the attack, about 5 hours later.

MoD Video Stream

 * TASS report, at 20:42, says that at about 20:00 a web camera and transmission equipment at Assad Academy was hit. No video feed from any source is seen on Russian MoD site, checking on it at about 21:16.
 * It is uncertain whether Russian MoD monitored in detail all of its own video feed; they would monitor areas of their own responsibility and attention, but not necessarily particular rebel sites, unless they had to, by prior agreements. There may be no arrangement for them to monitor security at the rebel warehouse, and they may not have prior experience that due to info warfare that might be quite a good idea.