Maarat al-Numan market bombing

The Maarrat al-Numan market bombing or Maarrat al-Numan market massacre was a war crime through an aerial bombardment of a marketplace and the surrounding houses in the Syrian opposition-held town of Ma'arrat al-Numan in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. It was perpetrated on 22 July 2019,[2][3][4] from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. local time, during the Syrian Civil War. The bombing killed 43 civilians, including three girls, and injured another 109 people.[1] At least two four-storey residential buildings and 25 shops were destroyed. A nearby school, located some 700 meters from the market, was damaged.[1]

Maarrat al-Numan market bombing Maarrat al-Numan market massacre
Part of Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war
Ma'arrat al-Numan Location of Maarrat al-Numan in Syria
Location	Maarrat al-Numan, Idlib Governorate, Syria
Coordinates	35°38′N 36°40′E
Date	22 July 2019 (2019-07-22) 8:00 to 8:30 a.m.[1] (local time)
Target	public market, houses
Attack type	Airstrike
Weapons	Aerial bombs
Deaths	43 civilians
Injured	109
Perpetrators	Russian Air Force
Motive	unknown

Later analysis confirmed that the bombing was perpetrated by a fighter aircraft of the Russian Federation.[5][6] The attack caused even more fatalities when a "double tap" strategy was used, in which a second wave of bombing hit the same target when rescue workers were on the site minutes later, killing them.[7][8]

It was part of a wider Syrian military campaign against Idlib in 2019.

The United Nations Human Rights Council recorded the crime in its report published on 2 March 2020. It stated the following:

In parts of southern Idlib, including Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man, pro-government forces persistently shelled civilian infrastructure in the de-escalation zone, leaving civilians with no choice but to flee. As such, there are reasonable grounds to believe that pro-government forces intended to terrorize civilians, in an effort to depopulate the zone and accelerate its capture.[9]