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Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: S1051)
Between seven and 10 civilians, including women and children, were reportedly killed and a “large” number of people wounded following alleged Coalition airstrikes in the Al Dariya neighbourhood of Raqqa, local sources reported.
Among the 19 sources who reported the incident, 17 alleged that the Coalition was responsible. Baladi News said that SDF artillery strikes contributed to the deaths. However Airwars understands only the Coalition has access to artillery therefore they would still be responsible. Ara News instead claimed that the civilians were killed as a result of ISIL mines, but no other report validates this claim.
Amnesty International later reported generally on the situation in the neighbourhood, citing ‘Mahmouda’, who escaped on July 21st: “They were fighting on both sides when we left. They [the SDF/coalition] had been shelling for two months. IS slaughtered people like birds. Many people were killed in the shelling. There were bodies all over the streets. The killing was from both sides but the worst was from IS. Families and families died.
The planes couldn’t distinguish between IS and civilians as IS made us all wear the same clothes. If the religious police caught my 12 year old son they’d make him cut his trousers [between the knee and the ankle – Kandahari style] so they couldn’t distinguish.”