Up to 25 detainees were killed, including at least one child, on Tuesday 3, January 2017, in an airstrike by the International Coalition against Daesh/ISIS on a detention facility and headquarters operated by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra Front, near Sarmada, located in the Idlib province. The headquarters was located 1.5 km away from the west of Sarmada, between Sarmada and Kafar Dian. The site was targeted by four high-explosive rockets that caused the full destruction of the headquarters, killing everyone inside, whether they were detainees, about 25 individuals who had been charged with mostly “criminal charges,” or al-Nusra Front –affiliated fighters; information received by STJ disclose that at least 20 members of the group were at the base when the strike occurred.
(Video footage posted by activists on social media shows the moments following the attack and illustrates the strength of the blast.) Jabhat Fateh al-Sham had released (15) detainees just one day prior to the attack on January 2, 2017.
“A revolutionary activist from northern Idlib", who preferred to use a code-name for security reasons, said to Syrians for Truth and Justice that the shelling took place about 4:00 pm. He added:
“The target site was a Fateh al-Sham/al-Nusra Front- operated detention facility which is a cave dug inside the mountain. It was an ex-headquarters of the “Liwaa Rijal Allah” Battalion, affiliated with the armed opposition faction, the Free Syrian Army, in 2012. The Islamic State/Daesh had failed to capture it. Clashes between the “Liwaa Rijal Allah” platoon and al-Nusra Front took place after ousting Daesh from the whole region. al-Nusra Front captured the headquarters in 2013”.
He continued:
“In late 2015, the al-Nusra Front established the so-called “Courthouse in Sarmada city” to refer those who were arrested to this “cave/place”. Then in early 2016, they changed it to a detention facility and a courthouse under pressure from Sarmada residents who wanted to them to take the courthouse and all the military headquarters out of Sarmada city”.
Another activist from Sarmada, his name is also not cited for security reasons, told Syrians for Truth and Justice that he saw the aircraft with his own eyes. He stated the aircraft was hovering two minutes over Darat Izza city/ Dar Ta’eza, northwest of Aleppo, prior to the attack. He stated the aircraft’s color was close to silver. He then added:
“It was a huge aircraft. I ruled out that it was a Russian aircraft because whenever Russian aircraft conduct bombing missions, it is like a swarm. Whereas this one that struck the site -located between two mountains- was huge like an Ilushin aircraft, one dedicated for cargo, and it hit the site with four sustained rockets that caused its full devastation. The site is known to be a headquarters for Jabhat al-Sham, formerly the al-Nusra Font, and a courthouse that contains detention facilities for criminal detainees, but not for people abducted by the group nor the captives from the regime. Corpses could not be identified nor could the exact number of detainees or the members of the group killed be identified as they had been turned into scattered body parts due to the strength of the strike”.
The eyewitness then cited to Syrians for Truth and Justice the names of detainees he could collect and document as being at the impact site:
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Ibrahim Abdulaziz Jaloud from Sarmada.
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Hasan Mohamad Bakro from Sarmada.
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Wael Yasin from Kafar Darian.
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Ali Mahmoud Jawad from Ad-Dana.
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Mohamad Mahmoud Jawad from Ad-Dana.
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Ahmad Haj Hamidi from Ad- Dana.
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Omar Hasa Abdlwahab
Further documentation was provided by the “Jabhat Nusra Violations” website, which is a group of Syrian activists who document violations of Fateh al- Sham group. The cite posted the following detainees names who had been killed:
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Haitham, 10, from at-Tmana’a in Khan Shekhun.
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Majdi Alolo from Ma’arat Masreen.
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Husein Shahoud Sharif from al-Atarib.
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Ahmad Abdallah Amin from Tal al-Karama.
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Abdlilah at-Tyawi from az-Zyara located in Sahl al-Ghab.
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Adnan Mohamad Salman from Abyan.
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Ahmad al-Haji from ad-Dana town, his name came in other sources as Ahmad al-Haj Hamidi.
Image of Ahmad al-Haji from Ad-Dana. Photo credit: Jabhat Nusra Violations website.
Some activists think the plane that carried out the attack to be an American military aircraft, a B-52. In fact, CENTCOM did not deny the attack. Instead on January 6, 2017, three days after the attack, the U.S. Central Command posted on Twitter messages which contained information about the attack. The following are three such tweets.
1. A US airstrike targeted the same headquarters affiliated to Al-Qaeda near Sarmada located in Idlib in Syria on January 3.
2. Al-Qaeda foreign terrorist fighters used this headquarters as a meeting place where their commanders directed terrorist operations.
3. The airstrike on January 3rd caused the death of up to 15 armed supporters of Al-Qaeda, destroyed six cars, and nine buildings owned by the group.
Satellite imagery of target location in Sarmada.
Image of rescue attempt following the strike on the detention facility/headquarters.
Photo credit: Syrians for Truth and Justice.
A statement released by the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham-operated courthouse accusing the International Coalition of targeting the site, which the statement alleges is far from the headquarters of the Fateh al-Sham/ al-Nusra combatants. It states that the site was only a complex for detainees.
Image showing moment immediately after the attack.
Photo Credit: Sarmada Resident provided to Syrians for Truth and Justice.