Direct proof of use
The BM-27 Uragan appears in the Syrian Civil War record through documented 9M27K-series 220 mm cluster-munition rockets. Human Rights Watch identified a 9M27K-series rocket with 9N210 or 9N235 submunitions in a November 13, 2015 attack at Kniddah in Idlib province, and described the 9M27K rocket as launched from the BM-27 Uragan.
Later evidence tied the same Uragan rocket family to attacks in northwest Syria. Human Rights Watch reported that remnants photographed after the November 6, 2022 attacks on displaced-person camps near Kafr Jales, Kafr Ruhin, and Wadi Khaled showed an expended 9M27K-series Uragan cargo section and an unexploded 9N235 submunition. In October 2023, Human Rights Watch said Syrian government forces used two 220 mm 9M27K-series Uragan rockets in Termanin, northern Idlib.
Sources: HRW Russia/Syria Cluster Munitions 2015, HRW Syria November 2022 Cluster Munitions, HRW Northwest Syria Cluster Munitions 2023
Timeline
The earliest direct source in this record is Human Rights Watch's documentation of a November 13, 2015 attack at Kniddah, Idlib province, during a wider Syrian-Russian offensive that began after Russia's September 30, 2015 intervention.
On November 6, 2022, Human Rights Watch documented Uragan-series cluster rocket remnants after attacks on displaced-person camps in northwest Idlib. On October 6, 2023, Human Rights Watch documented two 9M27K-series Uragan rockets used against Termanin as part of a wider Syrian and Russian campaign in opposition-held northwest Syria.
Sources: HRW Russia/Syria Cluster Munitions 2015, HRW Syria November 2022 Cluster Munitions, HRW Northwest Syria Cluster Munitions 2023
Narrative
The documented Uragan use in Syria centers on cluster-munition rocket attacks in Idlib province rather than on confirmed launcher sightings. The sources identify the weapon through remnants of 9M27K-series rockets and associated 9N210 or 9N235 fragmentation submunitions, which are compatible with the BM-27 Uragan system.
Attribution varies by incident. The 2022 Human Rights Watch report attributed the camp attacks to the Syrian-Russian military alliance, while the 2023 Termanin report attributed the attack to Syrian government forces and placed it within a Syrian and Russian campaign in northwest Syria. Open-source imagery reviewed by the Atlantic Council's DFRLab also geolocated suspected 9M27K-series Uragan remnants in Alteh, Idlib, in August 2018, but treated that evidence as appearing to show use rather than as a fully confirmed operational record.
Sources: HRW Syria November 2022 Cluster Munitions, HRW Northwest Syria Cluster Munitions 2023, DFRLab Cluster Bomb Debris in Idlib
