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]
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]
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]
