Celebratory Gunfire on New Year’s Eve, Kills One and Injures Others in Homs

Random shootings during the New Year (2019) celebrations, killed a young man and injured five others in Homs, as several areas witnessed heavy shootings including An'nouzha, Al Zahra and Al-Arman neighborhoods, Talkalakh city and Fairuzah village. Despite the police command’s order not to shoot, many civilians with their personal guns and militiamen of national defense with machine-guns and rifles, fired into the air in celebration of the entry of the New Year at exactly 12:00 a.m. on the 1^st of January 2019, as reported by STJ’s field researcher

4 injured with bullets in abdomen and hand, and were transferred to Al-Basil hospital in Al-Zahra neighborhood, according to a nurse working there:

"Most of the injured were accidentally shot, the wounds of two from those we treated are serious, but they could possibly survive. A hospital in Karam el-Looz neighborhood also admitted two other shot-related injuries and a dead, as I was told by colleagues."

STJ’s researcher was able to identify the injured:

1. Mohsen Al-Ibrahim. (16 years)

2. Yousef Orabi. (a child from Talkalakh city)

3. Christian Jack Saliba. (a child from Fairuzah village)

4. Basim Othman. (40 years)

5. Iman Mushaimish. (25 years)

6. Mahmoud Ali Massa. (died from random shooting)