More than 100 people were killed on October 5, 2023, when armed drones struck a military academy in Homs province in central Syria during a graduation ceremony. The attack wounded some 240 people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, said more than 100 people were killed and 125 injured. However, Syria’s health ministry said that 89 people had been killed, including 31 women and five children.
Syria’s military said that several weaponized drones hit the Homs Military Academy’s courtyard where families were gathered for the graduation ceremony of new officers. The premises came under attack minutes after defence minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas had left.
‘Bloodiest attack’
This is one of the bloodiest strikes against the military in more than 12 years of civil war.
“After the ceremony, people went down to the courtyard and the explosives hit. We don’t know where it came from, and corpses littered the ground,” said a Syrian man who had helped set up decorations at the ceremony.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Syrian military accused fighters “backed by known international forces” for the attack.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “expressed deep concern” at the drone attack in Homs as well as “reports of retaliatory shelling” in northwest Syria, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Syria declares 3 days of mourning
The Syrian government announced on a three-day official mourning for the victims that were killed in the attack on the military academy in the central province of Homs.
On Friday morning, coffins carrying victims and draped in the Syrian flag were sent out from the Homs Military Hospital. A military band played somberly and lined up troops to honor and salute the fallen ones.
The Syrian forces have reportedly launched a fierce attack on opposition positions in Idlib, northwest Syria, before the investigations were concluded.
US claims to have shot down Turkish drone
Meanwhile, in northeast Syria, the United States said it had shot down an armed Turkish drone that was operating near US military personnel and Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces on October 5. Turkish defence ministry officials have denied the claim.
Turkiye has launched strikes against Kurdish militant target in northern Iraq since Sunday’s attack in Ankara, which wounded two Turkish security officers and was claimed by the Kurdish group.
United States’ support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria has long caused tensions with Turkiye which views SDF as a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a “terrorist” group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.