Raschidin attack

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In an attack on a refugee convoy on 15 April 2017 in Syria Raschidin west of Aleppo by a by a came suicide bomber ignited car bomb more than 100 people dead.

prehistory

At the end of March 2017, an agreement brokered by Qatar and Iran was reached between warring parties in Syria , according to which a total of more than 30,000 people were to be relocated to other areas from villages that had been besieged by the opposing side for years. After several delays, on April 14, 2017, 5000 residents including rebels from al-Fuʿa (الفوعة) and Kafriya (كفريا) in Idlib Governorate left their hometowns with around 80 buses and 20 ambulances.They were supposed to be taken to the government-controlled city of Aleppo . At the same time, another 65 buses with 2,200 residents started from Madaya and az-Zabadani with the destination of the rebel-held Idlib governorate . Both convoys were stopped on the same evening and prevented from continuing their journey: the one with the destination Idlib within Aleppo, the other west of the city in an area held by Haiʾat Tahrir al-Sham on an expressway on the outskirts of the village of Raschidin. There are different statements about the reason for the forced residence.

Sequence of events

On April 15, 2017 at around 3:30 p.m. local time, a pickup truck approached the convoy waiting at Raschidin for permission to continue and gave the impression that it was bringing a delivery of food. According to eyewitnesses, the driver lured children to his vehicle with treats before he blew it up.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , 126 people were killed, including 68 children, and many were injured. Aid workers and rebel fighters accompanying the convoy were among the dead. One of the main reasons for the high number of victims was that a nearby gas station caught fire.

Discussion about possible groups of perpetrators

So far, nobody has confessed to the attack. The Syrian government blamed “terrorists” for the crime. According to individual Western media reports, there were also unspecified opposition activists who held government supporters responsible for the crime.

However, the best-known spokesman for the opposition, Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , also stated in this case that he did not believe that the Syrian government was behind the attacks. He said the regime was killing people every day using all kinds of weapons and that it did not need to kill its own sympathizers.

The Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham also clearly distanced themselves from the attack . This complained of own losses among the guards of the convoy. Ahrar asch-Scham announced its own investigation to find those responsible. No blame was given.

At the time of the attack, the (local) Raschidin was in the hands of Haiʾat Tahrir al-Sham, who was close to al-Qaida . This group or members of one of its current or previous subgroups are therefore in principle possible as perpetrators.

Members of the Jund al-Aqsa were already blamed for the attacks in December 2016 during arson attacks on buses, which were also intended for the evacuation of people from the besieged cities of al-Fuʿa and Kafriya. At that time, video material was also published on social media in which a named Jund-al-Aqsa functionary and his supporters cheered the deeds as revenge for Aleppo in front of the burning buses. Unlike in December 2016, there were no similar videos of the confession of the much more devastating attack on Raschidin in April 2017. A possible reason for the lack of a confessional video could have been an attempt by the terrorists to stir up mistrust and conflicts between the groups involved in the evacuation. However, the population exchange could not be stopped by the attack.

Reactions

The convoys were able to continue their journey on the same day, and the majority of the buses had reached their destination by midnight.

The Foreign Office in Berlin condemned the attack, as did Pope Francis in his Easter message and the United Nations. A spokesman for the US State Department described it as a "barbaric attack".

Web links

 Wikinews: Attack on bus convoy in Syria outlawed internationally  - news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Bolliger: A Syrian patchwork quilt. NZZ, March 30, 2017, accessed April 17, 2017.
  2. ^ A b Thomas Pany: Syria: Attack on bus convoy. Telepolis, April 16, 2017, accessed the following day.
  3. ↑ Thousands of Syrians are stuck near Aleppo. Spiegel Online, April 15, 2017, accessed April 17, 2017
  4. ↑ Syria was: Huge bomb kills dozens of evacuees in Syria. BBC, April 16, 2017, accessed the following day. (English)
  5. ↑ 68 children among the fatalities. Spiegel Online, April 16, 2017, accessed April 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ The number of victims in Syria rises to at least 126. Deutsche Welle, April 16, 2017, accessed April 17, 2017.
  7. ↑ a b c d e 120 dead and nobody is responsible. Spiegel Online, April 17, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  8. ↑ Jason Hanna, Salma Abdelaziz and Eyad Kourdi: Syria: 126 killed as bomb hits buses with evacuees, group says. In: cnn.com. April 16, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Jason Hanna, Salma Abdelaziz and Eyad Kourdi: Syria: 126 killed as bomb hits buses with evacuees, group says. In: cnn.com. Retrieved April 18, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Ali on Twitter. Retrieved April 18, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Syria bus convoy blast: 126 Shia residents killed; 68 children among dead. Hindustan Times, April 16, 2017, accessed the following day. (English)
  12. ^ Pope Francis calls for peace in Syria. Spiegel Online, April 16, 2017, accessed the following day,
  13. ^ UN and USA outlaw attack on refugee children in Syria. RNZ, April 17, 2017, accessed on the same day.

Coordinates: 36 ° 10 ′ 10 ″  N , 37 ° 3 ′ 24 ″  E