Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Three civilians died and four were injured in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Qahtani village, according to a single source.
Smart News reported that “a local source in the village of Qahtaniya [about 10 km west of raqqa], said that three civilians from one family, including a child, were killed and four others injured”, following strikes “likely” to have been carried out by the Coalition.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Qahtani (قحطانية), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.986833, 38.921672. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (1) [ collapse]
Attached to this civilian harm incident is a provisional reconciliation of the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, based on matching date and locational information.
The declassified documents were obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, and are included alongside the corresponding press release published by the Pentagon. Airwars is currently analysing the contents of each file, and will update our own assessments accordingly.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For March 9th-10th, the Coalition reported: “Near Ar Raqqah, 13 strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units; destroyed four vehicles, a fighting position, a tactical vehicle, an ISIS headquarters, and a VBIED factory; and damaged three supply routes.”