Geolocation
Airwars assessment
More than a dozen outlets reported suspected Coalition strikes on Hitteen farm, near Raqqa City, with vague claims of civilians harmed.
Sadaalsham said the farm was located to the north of the city.
Syrians News reported “a number of civilian casualties.” Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered also reported “news of civilian casualties” but did not elaborate. Shaam News also reported a suspected Coalition attack, but did not mention casualties.
Accorrding to the blogger Q Alenzy, “The Coalitiuon targeted the houses of Al-Mulla, Khalaf Al-Amayan and Al-Hamduls in Hitteen Farm north of Ar Raqqa with reports of wounded.”
In its December 2017 civilian casualty report, the Coalition confirmed that “During a Coalition strike which destroyed an ISIS headquarters building it was assessed the three civilians were unintentionally killed.” However officials have refused to provide co-ordinates for the event, meaning that we cannot presently determine whether this was incident S763; S765; S766; S767; S768 or perhaps a new event.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (15) [ 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 May 26th-27th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 12 strikes engaged 11 ISIS tactical units; destroyed seven vehicles, five fighting positions, three tunnels, an ISIS headquarters and an ISIS staging area.“
For May 27th-28th, the Coalition reported: "Near Raqqah, 15 strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units; destroyed six fighting positions, three ISIS headquarters, an ISIS staging area and a VBIED." For May 27th it further added "Near Raqqah, Syria, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed a six fighting positions, an ISIS-held building and a weapons cache."