A horrific drone attack in Syria targeted a military academy and resulted in the death of more than 100 people, as no country or group has yet to claim responsibility for the assault.
A war monitor and an official said the weaponized drones bombed the area a few minutes after Syria's defense minister left a graduation ceremony. The attack is considered one of the bloodiest assaults against a Syrian army installation. Its use of weaponized drones is unprecedented in a country that has endured 12 years of civil war.
Drone Attack in Syrian Military Academy
The fatal victims of the recent attack include civilians and military personnel, as revealed by a statement released by Syria's defense ministry. Officials added that "terrorist" groups had used drones to attack the military academy in Homs's central province.
Syria's Minister of Health, Hassan Al-Ghabbash, said that the victims included women and children and added that the drone attack resulted in the injury of several hundreds of other people, as per CNN.
Following the attack, the country's defense and foreign ministries vowed in written statements that they would respond "with full force" to the assault. Syrian government forces have also carried out heavy bombing attacks on the opposition-held zone of Idlib throughout the day.
A Syrian man who helped set up decorations at the military academy for the occasion said that following the event, people went down to the courtyard, and the explosives suddenly struck. He added that they had no idea where they came from and noted that they saw corpses across the ground.
Video footage showed bodies, some wearing fatigues and others civilian clothes, lying in pools of blood in a large courtyard. Some of the corpses were smoking, and others were still on fire. People could also be heard screaming, and one could be pinpointed saying, "Put him out!" as a spray of gunfire sounds in the background.
Yearslong Conflict
In a statement, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the fatalities numbered more than 100, and roughly 125 were injured. The conflict in Syria began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. Still, according to The Guardian, it quickly spiraled into an all-out war that has already left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions displaced.
Additionally, the Syrian army has been gutted by the long period of fighting and relied heavily on military support from Russia and Iran and Tehran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, and other nations.
Following the attack, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern regarding the drone strike and "reports of retaliatory shelling" in northwest Syria. The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said the attacks targeted 20 villages and towns across the Idlib governorate.
The drone strikes were launched from government positions south and east of Jabal al-Zawiya and started at around 3:30 p.m. local time. Locals also noted that the drone attacks targeted a power station and a popular market, said Aljazeera.
