<h2>Incident 2: The Rahman hospital in Altah</h2>
Location: IDLIB : Altah
Hospital: The Rahman hospital in Altah
Beneficiaries: ~ 2000 children and 2500 women monthly
Date: 19/09/2017
Time of Attack: ~ 1st airstrike: 11:45am - 2nd airstrike 12:15pm - 3rd airstrike 12:25pm
Attacks: Alleged Three Russian airstrike
Reported killed: One killed (Fathyah Khaled Al Arnous) (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ALTIH.TMC/posts/1823828491280562">Woman staff of the hospital</a>)
Reported injured: Injured included the medical staff of the hospital and 10 civilians (patients)
Munitions identified: Not available
Potentially responsible: Russian or Syrian air force
On 19 September 2017 at around 12:00, the Rahman hospital in Altah was attacked with airstrikes allegedly by the Syrian or Russian airforce. The hospital served approximately 10.000 people.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jjim7_908c">Step News Agency has published a video</a> showing the first moment of an airstrike that targeted Al Rahman hospital.
<iframe allowfullscreen class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="470" src="https://giphy.com/embed/13yUel7H9OCU0g" width="680"></iframe>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rVKRbo52so"></a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rVKRbo52so">Qasioun News Agency also published a video</a> which features an interview with a member of the Syrian Civil Defence rescue team, who said: &quot;Al Rahman hospital was attacked by a Russian airstrike.After the first airstrike we emptied the hospital of women, children and infants. Generators were on fire as a result of this attack.&quot;
Continuing, the Civil Defence volunteer said that the hospital was attacked with three airstrikes which followed each other. &quot;The first airstrike happened which was followed by the second airstrike after 15 minutes, and lastly by the third airstrike after 5 minutes.&quot;
Anas Al Merawi also <a href="https://www.facebook.com/100010399271536/videos/vb.100010399271536/497069380649700/?type=2&theater">published a video showing</a> the Syrian Civil Defence rescue team distinguishing the fire. &quot;19 September 2017: The targeting of infant, children, and women&#39;s hospital in Idlib countryside. It doesn&#39;t have any relation to the clashes happening in northern countryside of Hammah. One women patient was killed as a result of this attack. There were many patients as well. There is huge destruction of the infant department as well as the birth department.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqYnn5J5AX4">Smart News Agency also published a video</a> which showed an ambulance and a car destroyed as a result of the attack.
<img src="/uploads/ambulancesmart6738_83f71e9098.png" alt="ambulancesmart.png">
Another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVd2AFqikhk">video showing the same ambulance</a> was published by Muaz Al Shami on his YouTube channel. See below:
<img src="/uploads/muazambulancerahman294_95606c4f3e.png" alt="muazambulancerahman.png">
<img src="/uploads/car_smart930_ecc8d2ad34.png" alt="car-smart.png">
In the video, it is possible to read a sign next to the door saying &quot;This hospital was set up by the non-profit association Ihsan in 2016.&quot; See below:
<img src="/uploads/sign_smart015_15a3209dfd.png" alt="sign-smart.png">
Another sign was featured in the same video with the following text:&quot;Al Rahman Charitable Specialist Hospital - Women, Birth, Children - 24 hours emergency&quot;
<img src="/uploads/muaz_hospital_sign401_8655b3ed01.png" alt="muaz-hospital-sign.png">
SMART News Agency&#39;s reporter took some footage inside the hospital which shows a sign reading: &quot;Infant section.&quot; See below:
<img src="/uploads/infant_dep_smart200_8962183128.png" alt="infant-dep-smart.png">
<img src="/uploads/infant_room104_164ff5fb49.png" alt="infant-room.png">
Muaz Al Shami&#39;s video shows cards posted on the infant incubator. The text written on one of them:&quot;Name: Nour Alshoun - Gender: Female - Father&#39;s name: Omar - Date: 18-09-2017.&quot; See below:
<img src="/uploads/postinfantmuaz239_9f4ba7284a.png" alt="postinfantmuaz2.png">
<img src="/uploads/card_infant_muaz49_3c30b4a855.png" alt="card-infant-muaz.png">
Other departments of the hospital able to be identified through the SMART News video include: &quot;&quot;Women&#39;s Section.&quot; See below
<img src="/uploads/women_section34_6efbc0e865.png" alt="women-section.png">
There is also an &quot;Emergency and radiology department.&quot; See below:
<img src="/uploads/emergenct_departmentr90_892632044d.png" alt="emergenct-departmentr.png">
In an interview from the same video, a member of the medical facility staff stated: &quot;A few members of the hospital staff were injured, including the administration director. One of the women staff died as a result of the attack. The medical facility is out of service now as a result of this attack.&quot;
Another staff member stated in the same video: &quot;The destruction of the hospital included the Emergency department - X-Ray department - the infant department, the women&#39;s department, and the birth department. We moved one of the children from Altah hospital into the university hospital before the attack. We heard about the attack on Altah hospital while we were in the university hospital, so we came back to move the infants to Telmenes hospital and other medical facilities that are close to this area.&quot;
A panoramic image of the damaged hospital was created using stills from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVd2AFqikhk">Muaz Al Shami video</a>. See below:
<img src="/uploads/1m7m11_439f6e1579.jpg" alt="1m - 7m.jpg">
Additional satellite imagery was obtained from DigitalGlobe, from which further geolocation of the hospital was possible. See below:
<img src="/uploads/teh_hospital_geolocation210_a89e730709.png" alt="teh-hospital-geolocation.png">
Additional video documentation of this incident are provided below:
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL_S1vkzBKA">Video of Aladeyeh</a> media channel showing the damage in the hospital.
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQHvrWI3s20">Video of Eye On Homeland</a> media agency
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_nrvqA8mw8">Video of Civil defense</a> team rescue mission
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP8XYUSD6o4">Video of Shaam Network media</a> agency
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=sDHG9Rnev8w">Video of Barada News</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOZZhFWFR-w">Video from OGN</a> channel
</li>
</ol>
To provide a further layer of verification, the Syrian Archive cross-referenced findings from the videos with flight observation data from a spotter organisation. This process necessitated analysing observation data for flights between 7:00 and 15:00, the period directly before and after the reported attack.
<img src="/uploads/19_sept_20174width_800_8da657f9ac.png" alt="mn-national-h2">
Through comparing where flights were observed, the time they were observed, and the direction flights were heading, and comparing this data to geolocation conducted in earlier steps, the Syrian Archive was able to identify several flights potentially responsible for the attack (several fixed-wing Russian aircraft as well as a MiG-23 Flogger), seen circling the immediate vicinity of the geolocated attack site. Previous research has found that circling flights typically indicate target acquisition and/or preparation for imminent attack. Important to note is that while the aircraft type were all Russian, it is possible the flights were operated by the Syrian airforce, rather than the Russian airforce, as the Syrian airforce also operates Russian planes.

Three Idlib medical facilities serving a combined more than 100.000 people yearly were allegedly attacked in airstrikes attributed to Syrian or Russian forces

INVESTIGATIONS

Incident 2: The Rahman hospital in Altah

Table Of Contents

.css-68jq5d{padding-bottom:1.45rem;color:#ffffff;-webkit-transition:0.25s;transition:0.25s;}.css-68jq5d:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}INVESTIGATIONS

Incident 2: The Rahman hospital in Altah

Table Of Contents

INVESTIGATIONS