Assad regime forces targeted the town of Taqad in western Aleppo on Monday, November 11, with three suicide drones, injuring three civilians and spreading panic among children at a nearby elementary school. The drones struck in quick succession, with the first two exploding near civilian cars parked adjacent to the school’s perimeter wall during school hours, while the third hit the southern edge of town, damaging another car and a motorcycle.
Mustafa Ghazi, a volunteer with the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, described the scene as chaotic, with students and teachers deeply shaken by the close-range explosions. “These attacks happened within meters of an elementary school filled with young children,” Ghazi said. “They are terrified, their rights to safety and education violated in the most horrifying way.” He added that the repeated drone attacks in northwestern Syria expose students to constant fear and highlight the urgent need for international intervention.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) released a statement condemning the attack, stating that it violated UN Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254, both of which ban indiscriminate attacks on civilians. The SNHR also noted that targeting civilians near a school exemplifies the Assad regime’s strategy to sow terror and force-displacement by targeting non-combatants in civilian areas.
“These attacks serve no military purpose and aim only to destabilize and drive people from their homes,” the SNHR said. The organization estimates that Syria’s conflict has displaced 6.5 million people internally, with the attacks in Taqad reflecting a wider tactic to uproot civilians from their homes in the liberated regions.
As of Monday, White Helmets teams were able to confirm no additional injuries beyond the three civilians who were rushed to a hospital following the drone strikes. Despite the immediate response of local emergency services, the fear and trauma from the attack will likely linger in Taqad. Observers say that unless international pressure compels an end to such attacks, civilians across northwestern Syria will continue to endure the trauma of near-daily drone and artillery strikes.
