Residents of a village located near the Shayrat airfield in Homs had stray Tomahawks raining on them as US warships were firing at the base in response to the alleged chemical attack in Idlib. The locals told RT’s Ruptly agency of the horrors they experienced.
READ MORE: Women & children among casualties of US missile strike – Homs governor
Villagers were the majority of victims of the US strike on the Shayrat Airbase on April 6, portrayed as retaliation against the Bashar Assad government, according to the governor of Homs Talal al-Barazi. A total of 14 people including nine innocent civilians were killed in the US missile attack.
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A total of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from US Navy ships in the Eastern Mediterranean, but only 23 of them reached their target, the Russian Defense Ministry has revealed. Some of the stray missiles apparently hit villages in the surrounding area.
Ruptly’s crew has talked to the wife of a soldier who was killed in the attack and also to local villagers who showed the aftermath of the American attack.
Ganea al-Ahmed, wife of Senior-Lieutenant Firas Hammoud who died in the attack, said her husband was ordered to the base shortly before the tragedy occurred.
“When they brought the coffin, I couldn’t stop crying as it is a shame to die at such an age,” Ganea said.
“This is horrible,” Ganea went on. “A mother is raising a son… Then suddenly the US… launches a strike on an airfield, and innocent people, no matter who, be it a general or senior lieutenant Firas, they hit us to kill all of us. And they call it a fight against terrorism.”
There were many people who had to leave their homes on Thursday night like her ill-fated husband, Ganea said.
“That night, the people of Shayrat left their homes and went far away, as they were scared that the village would be attacked. They only took clothes for their children,” she said.
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“I am glad that within hours – or the next day – planes started to take off from Shayrat Airbase, and the operations began. The bulldozers started to work.”
Meanwhile, the villagers are mourning the loss of their loved ones and neighbors.
“Let God lay their souls to rest. There aren’t words to describe what happened,” Ganea said, almost crying.
Resident Assad Al-Khodr said that rockets landed only 40 meters away from his house. They left craters, seen on the video, damaged an electricity cable and caused a power cut.
“We were terrified. And the windows were shattered,” he said.
Another local man has described the attack as “a shameless aggression,” that spread panic and fear.
“This shameless aggression… caused panic among the children and civilians and inflicted huge damage to this village and to the surrounding villages,” he said, adding that the strike shattered windows and broke the facades of some buildings.
READ MORE: ‘This is a war crime’: Syrians in Damascus react to US missile strike
“One of their missiles landed between the houses in our village,” he said.
According to another eyewitness of the attack, “the station, the airport and the airbase restored their operations on the same day. This is a huge challenge to America and their allies.”
