The Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets released a comprehensive report detailing the catastrophic toll of the continued attacks by the Assad regime and its Russian allies on civilians in northwestern Syria. The report, issued late Wednesday, highlights the escalating violence across Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama provinces and the devastating impact on Syrian civilians, infrastructure, and humanitarian services.
According to the report, between November 27 and December 4, the Assad regime and Russian forces carried out relentless bombardments that resulted in the deaths of 94 civilians, including 39 children and 12 women. An additional 320 civilians were injured, with 127 children and 80 women among the wounded. These figures do not include statistics for Aleppo City, which will be issued separately.
Yesterday, December 4, White Helmets teams recovered the bodies of 10 civilians, including three children and a woman, killed in airstrikes. Additionally, seven civilians, including four children and two women, were injured in the attacks. Among the victims was journalist Anas Al-Kharbatli, who was killed in an airstrike while covering regime and Russian attacks in the northern Hama countryside.
The White Helmets also recovered the bodies of two girls from the rubble of a residential house targeted by regime warplanes in Al-Safira, east of Aleppo, on December 2. This brought the death toll from that attack to seven, including four children and a woman.
The report underscores that the regime and Russian forces have deliberately targeted residential neighborhoods, schools, health facilities, and markets, leaving critical infrastructure in ruins and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Among the sites bombed were hospitals and medical centers, as well as densely populated civilian areas.
A particularly harrowing incident involved the recovery of a body from the Al-Jazmati neighborhood in Aleppo, where airstrikes on December 1 left multiple civilians trapped under rubble. White Helmets teams, working amid ongoing attacks and massive destruction, retrieved the body on December 4, with efforts continuing to recover others.
In a notable development, the White Helmets have expanded their services to the liberated city of Aleppo and other newly liberated territories, providing vital rescue and recovery operations in the face of ongoing violence.
The White Helmets characterized the attacks as blatant violations of international humanitarian law, pointing to the deliberate targeting of schools, health facilities, journalists, and crowded civilian areas as evidence of systematic war crimes.
They called on the international community to hold the Assad regime and Russia accountable, end impunity for such crimes, and push for a political solution that ensures safety and stability for Syrian civilians. “The deliberate targeting of civilians and essential infrastructure is a clear message aimed at depriving Syrians of a dignified life and perpetuating instability, terror, and displacement,” the report states.
