Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Local sources have reported that on August 4, 2017, between three and six civilians were reportedly killed in an aerial bombardment on Al-Buweitaya in the western suburb of Deir Ezzor. Some sources have alleged that the US-led Coalition was responsible, however, other sources attributed the attack to the regime, and some to Russia.
According to a Facebook post by Al Tabani, Younis al-’Awad was killed alongside his daughter and another unidentified woman. Younis al-’Awad’s wife was also reported to have been seriously injured in the attack.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights have blamed ‘Syrian Regime planes’ for the attack, whilst in a news report by Smart the strikes are ‘thought to be Russian’.
Other sources referred to an “air bombardment” and to “warplanes” carrying out raids – but did not identify the culprit.
The incident was first reported on August 4, 2017 at 12:17 pm by EuphratesPost.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the town of Al-Buweitiya (بلدة البويطية), western Deir Ezzor governorate, for which the coordinates are: 35.9378146, 39.1255975
Summary
Sources (13) [ 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 August 4th-5th: “Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike destroyed four ISIS oil stills.”
‘Friday 4 August – Typhoons struck an ammunition factory and three sniper positions in Raqqa…An improvised ammunition factory had been identified in a large single-storey building in Raqqa, and this was struck with two Paveway IVs from Typhoons on Friday 4 August. The Typhoons then conducted two further strikes with Paveways against sniper positions, while a second Typhoon flight dealt with a third sniper team.’