Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On October 18, 2017, two to four civilians were killed in an airstrike on Al Shaheel, according to local media, though sources were conflicted as to who was to blame.
Two men were killed identified by name by multiple sources.
Al Sharqiya Observatory said that the victims died from wounds sustained in a Coalition strike. Sharqiya Voice also named a victim but didn’t identify the warplanes responsible for his death.
The victims were named by Euphrates Post, Jassim Al-Hawar, Hussein Hammadi al-Murr and two displaced men. Eurphrates post claimed that the victims were killed in air strikes targeting the town of Al-Shuhail near Al-Hassan Mosque and Al-Khabassa Mosque.
Marsad al Hassaka also reported that two displaced men from Deir Ezzor had been killed.
According to Deir Ezzor 24 and Sharqiya Voice, Russian warplanes carried out up to seven raids on Al Shaheel.
Smart News Agency said that four civilians died at the hands of unidentified fighter jets.
The incident was first reported on October 18, 2017 at 1:00 pm by .
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the Al Hassan (الحسن) and Al Khabassa (الخباصة) mosques in the village of Al Saheel (الشحیل). Due to limited information available to Airwars, the exact locations of these mosques remain unknown, however, the generic coordinates for the village are: 35.0865, 40.45232.
Summary
Sources (10) [ 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
-
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 October 17th-18th, the Coalition reported: “Near Abu Kamal, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two VBEID factories and an ISIS headquarters.“