The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Death toll of Zghir Shamiyyah massacre rises to about 70 killed in 72 hours of raids on the Euphrates River and its banks

Deir Ezzor Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the number of casualties continue to rise as a result of the death of more civilians in the airstrikes and successive massacres carried out by warplanes believed to Russian, which targeted a displaced camp in Zghir Shamiyyah area at the western banks of the Euphrates River in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, where it rose to 16 including 5 children and 2 women, the number of persons who were killed and documented by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in airstrikes on a camp of displaced people during the last few hours, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation, and this massacre increased the number of people who were killed during the past 72 hours by bombing by Russian warplanes and others believed to be Russian on the banks of Euphrates River, to 69 including 15 children under the age of eighteen, and 11 citizen women over the age of eighteen, where theses strikes targeted dozens of ferry boats in Al-Boleel in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and other ferry boats in Hawayej Ziab Shamiyyah area, and two camps for displaced people, one in them is in Al-Kharita area and the other is in the nearby area of Zghir Shamiyyah on the western banks of the Euphrates River in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, while the death toll is still likely to rise because of the presence of tens of injuries in dangerous cases, and some another was injured with permanently disabled.

These consecutive massacres as a result of the continuous shelling on the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates River, resulted in the increasing the level of resentment because of the bombing by the Russian warplanes which claimed that they came to “set citizens free”, and because of their targeting citizens during their displacement from the intensive shelling on the city of Deir Ezzor and its countryside, under the pretext of “fighting the Islamic State organization”, while Deir Ezzor city is witnessing a large movement of displacement by tens of families that fled from the city, with escalating the level of the military operation, and for the fear of besieging the area the regime forces which by advancing into Al-Jafra and Hawijat Sakr areas, which will enable the regime force, if they managed to advance into them and take the control of them, to impose a siege on the whole of Deir Ezzor city, and it is worth to mention that the citizens turned to use ferry boats to travel between the western and the eastern banks of the Euphrates River, after most of the bridges over the river had been shelled, by Russian warplanes as well as the International Coalition warplanes during the past months, in which some ferry boats are used to transport citizens while the others are used to transport vehicles between the two banks.