Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Smart reported that “according to local sources, warplanes likely belonging to the International Alliance targeted the neighborhood of Rumaila, killing four civilians and wounding others and destroying a car belonging to ISIL.”
Al Araby also blamed the Coalition and put the death toll at four, though appeared to be citing from Smart.
No additional details are presently known.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Rumaila and Al Idkhar (الرقة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.9505639, 39.0094148. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (2) [ 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 April 30th-May 1st 2017, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, two strikes destroyed four ISIS barges and an ISIS weapons facility.”
For May 1st -2nd: “Near Raqqah; one strike destroyed a fighting position and suppressed a mortar team.”
‘Sunday 30 April – Typhoons attacked a group of Daesh fighters west of Raqqa, while Tornados destroyed two Daesh buildings in Mosul…Sunday 30 April saw Typhoons once more flying in support of the SDF west of Raqqa, where they struck a group of Daesh fighters along the bank of the Euphrates. The Tornados then flew over Mosul, demolishing two Daesh-held buildings which the Iraqi ground forces had encountered.’