Direct proof of use
Human Rights Watch documented Syrian Air Force use of an OFAB-250-270 in al-Bab, Aleppo governorate, after a November 4, 2012 jet attack. HRW reported that it examined the site on December 14, 2012, found an unexploded OFAB-250-270 about 50 meters from the impact area, and quoted residents who said the munition failed to detonate after the first bomb exploded.
The OFAB-250-270 also appears in the record of the September 19, 2016 attack on a United Nations/Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy at Urum al-Kubra. Bellingcat identified recovered debris from the site as the tail section of an OFAB-250-270 high-explosive fragmentation bomb. RUSI likewise assessed the larger OFAB-250-270 as the most likely bomb type from the tail-fin evidence and described it as regularly carried by Russian and Syrian jet fighter-bombers operating over Syria.
Sources: HRW Death from the Skies, Bellingcat Aid Convoy Bomb Remains, RUSI Aid Convoy OFAB Assessment
Timeline
The earliest direct item in the collected sources is the November 2012 al-Bab incident. HRW's later field visit connected the unexploded OFAB-250-270 to a Syrian Air Force jet attack during the early fixed-wing air campaign against opposition-held areas.
In September 2016, the evidence shifted to the Aleppo aid-convoy attack. Human Rights Watch reported apparent airstrikes on the convoy and warehouse for more than three hours, noted that only Syrian and Russian air forces were known to be active in that area, and recorded witness accounts of aircraft and helicopters. The UN Commission of Inquiry later said the Syrian Air Force deliberately targeted the convoy; Bellingcat and RUSI supplied the weapon-specific identification from the OFAB tail debris.
Sources: HRW Death from the Skies, HRW Investigate UN Aid Convoy, OHCHR Aleppo Commission Release, Bellingcat Aid Convoy Bomb Remains, RUSI Aid Convoy OFAB Assessment
Narrative
The documented side for this record is Syrian government and allies. The al-Bab evidence points to Syrian Air Force use. The Urum al-Kubra evidence identifies the bomb type at a later pro-government air attack, but public attribution differs: RUSI argued that Russian Air Force involvement was highly likely while also allowing that a Syrian Air Force Su-24 could have dropped the munition, and the UN Commission's later public release attributed the convoy attack to the Syrian Air Force.
Across the available sources, the OFAB-250-270 appears as an unguided air-dropped high-explosive fragmentation bomb used in fixed-wing air operations, not as a ground-launched weapon or a weapon transferred to opposition forces. The sources support specific incidents and operator attribution by incident, but they do not provide a complete inventory, sortie count, or total number of OFAB-250-270 bombs used in Syria.
Sources: HRW Death from the Skies, Bellingcat Aid Convoy Bomb Remains, RUSI Aid Convoy OFAB Assessment, OHCHR Aleppo Commission Release
