In the waning geography of Syria's long war, Russian warplanes struck a fruit and vegetable market in Jisr al-Shugur on Sunday, killing at least thirteen people — among them two children — in what monitors called the deadliest single attack on Syrian soil in 2023. The market, a place of ordinary commerce and livelihood in Idlib's last pocket of armed resistance, became the site of what a civil defence official called a direct assault on the daily sustenance of ordinary people. Twelve years into a conflict that has consumed more than half a million lives, the distance between war and the market
Russian air strikes kill 13 in deadliest Syria attack this year
At least 13 people killed including two children, at least 30 civilians wounded in Russian air strikes on a market in Idlib region.
Russians shells rained on us. It was indescribable.
Mark
Why does this attack stand out? Russia has been bombing Syria for years.
Mimi
The scale. Thirteen dead in a single day, at a market where civilians were working. It's the worst in a year where, until now, civilian deaths from Russian strikes had been relatively contained.
Luke
But we should be clear—the Observatory is one source. They do good work, but they rely on networks inside Syria. We don't have independent verification of every casualty.
Mark
What was Russia actually targeting?
Mimi
They said it was retaliation for drone strikes by rebels that killed four civilians the week before. But hitting a market full of farmers and shoppers is a very different scale of response.
Luke
Right. And we don't know if Russia was aiming at the market or if it was a miss. The reporting doesn't tell us that.
Mark
Who are the people being killed here?
Mimi
Mostly civilians—farmers, vendors, people trying to make a living. Two children died. One of the dead fighters was part of a Uyghur jihadist group, but most of the casualties are ordinary people caught in the crossfire.
Luke
The reporting does distinguish between civilians and fighters, which is important. But it's worth noting that Idlib is complicated—it's rebel-held, but not all rebels are the same, and civilians and armed groups are sometimes mixed together.
Mark
What comes next?
Mimi
Russia will likely keep striking. Idlib is the last place where armed opposition to Assad exists. But this attack might draw more international attention to the scale of civilian harm.
Luke
The Observatory said the death toll could rise, so we may not even have the final number yet.
O Pulso
- Russian warplanes struck a crowded fruit and vegetable market in Jisr al-Shugur, killing at least thirteen people including two children and wounding thirty more in the single deadliest attack on Syria this year.
- A labourer unloading tomatoes moments before the strikes described shells raining down without warning, leaving him pulling the wounded from rubble with blood-stained hands.
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called it a massacre, noting it represented a sharp escalation after a year in which deadly Russian strikes on civilians had been relatively rare.
- Russia justified the strikes as retaliation for rebel drone attacks that killed four civilians over the previous week, framing the assault as a military response rather than an act of indiscriminate violence.
- Rescue operations were still underway as the death toll was expected to rise, with Idlib remaining the last significant territory beyond Assad's control after more than a decade of war.
In the waning geography of Syria's long war, Russian warplanes struck a fruit and vegetable market in Jisr al-Shugur on Sunday, killing at least thirteen people — among them two children — in what monitors called the deadliest single attack on Syrian soil in 2023. The market, a place of ordinary commerce and livelihood in Idlib's last pocket of armed resistance, became the site of what a civil defence official called a direct assault on the daily sustenance of ordinary people. Twelve years into a conflict that has consumed more than half a million lives, the distance between war and the marketplace remains, for those who live there, no distance at all.
On a Sunday morning in Jisr al-Shugur, a town in Syria's rebel-held Idlib region, Russian warplanes struck a fruit and vegetable market that served as a lifeline for local farmers and labourers. At least thirteen people were killed and thirty wounded — among the dead were nine civilians, including two children, and three rebel fighters. A separate strike on the outskirts of Idlib city claimed three more civilian lives and one fighter. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors casualties across the conflict from its base in Britain, called it the deadliest Russian attack on Syria in 2023.
Saad Fato, a thirty-five-year-old labourer, was unloading tomatoes and cucumbers when the strikes began. He spent the aftermath pulling survivors from the wreckage, his hands stained with blood. "Russians shells rained on us," he told AFP. "It was indescribable, seeing the dead, the wounded." Black smoke rose over the market as ambulances rushed toward the hospital.
Russia, which backs President Bashar al-Assad's government, said the strikes were retaliation for rebel drone attacks that had killed four civilians, including two children, in the preceding week. But monitors noted that deadly civilian casualties from Russian air strikes had been limited throughout 2023, making Sunday's toll a stark and sudden escalation.
Idlib is the last significant pocket of armed resistance to Assad's rule — a region Russia has struck repeatedly over the years, though rarely with this scale of civilian loss. The Syrian conflict, now in its twelfth year, has killed more than half a million people and displaced roughly half the country's pre-war population. As rescue efforts continued, the Observatory warned the death toll could still climb.
On Sunday, Russian warplanes struck a fruit and vegetable market in Jisr al-Shugur, a town in Syria's Idlib region, killing at least thirteen people and wounding at least thirty more. It was the deadliest single attack on Syria in 2023, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain that tracks casualties across the conflict.
Among the dead were at least nine civilians, including two children. Three rebel fighters were also killed in the strikes on Jisr al-Shugur itself, while another three civilians and one fighter died in a separate strike on the outskirts of Idlib city. The fighter killed in that second strike was a member of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a jihadist group dominated by Uyghurs, and the two dead children were the offspring of members of the same organization. Rami Abdel Rahman, who directs the Syrian Observatory, described the assault as a "massacre." Ahmed Yazigi, a civil defence official in Jisr al-Shugur, characterized it as "a direct attack on the popular market which provides a basic source of income for farmers."
Saad Fato, a thirty-five-year-old labourer, was unloading tomatoes and cucumbers when the shells came down. He helped pull wounded people from the rubble. "Russians shells rained on us," he told the news agency AFP, his hands still stained with blood. "It was indescribable, seeing the dead, the wounded." An AFP correspondent at the scene reported black smoke rising from the market and ambulances racing toward the hospital, their sirens cutting through the chaos.
Russia's military, which backs President Bashar al-Assad's government, said the strikes were a response to rebel drone attacks that had killed four civilians, including two children, over the previous week. The Observatory noted that deadly civilian casualties from Russian air strikes had been relatively limited so far in 2023—a single strike on Saturday had killed two civilians in the Idlib region—making Sunday's assault a sharp escalation.
Idlib remains Syria's last significant pocket of armed resistance to Assad's rule. Russia has struck the region repeatedly over the years, but the scale and civilian toll of Sunday's attack stood apart. The broader Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 when the government brutally suppressed pro-democracy protests, has killed more than half a million people and displaced roughly half the country's pre-war population. Assad, with backing from Russia and Iran, has reclaimed much of the territory he lost in the war's early years. The Observatory said the death toll from Sunday's strikes could still rise as rescue efforts continued.
Citações Notáveis
These Russian strikes are the deadliest in Syria this year and amount to a massacre.— Rami Abdel Rahman, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
A direct attack on the popular market which provides a basic source of income for farmers.— Ahmed Yazigi, civil defence official in Jisr al-Shugur
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War & Conflict