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Airwars Assessment
(Previous Incident Code: S1633)
Up to 23 civilian non combatants – including 18 women who were reportedly the wives of ISIS fighters on external missions – died along with seven ISIS guards in an alleged Coalition airstrike on an ISIS-held house (and perhaps others) in al Sha’afa, according to sources on the ground. One source added that a child was also killed.
Euphrates Post reported that “international coalition aircraft launched several air raids targeting a civilian house on the outskirts of the town of Sha’afa, which had been taken by IS as a base.”
According to Al Sha’afa town Facebook page , “there were attacks by Coalition aircraft on the edge of al Sha’afa. It has been confirmed that one of the targets was the house of Mohammed al-Wahaysh al-Furaiji – and that the house was used to host the women of IS [widows and the wives of those on external duties] “.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a Coalition attack on al Sha’afa “resulted in the injury of a young man”.
Smart News gave the only casualty figures, reporting that local sources had said that “the aircraft of the International Coalition targeted a house, used as an IS headquarters, resulting in the deaths of 18 women and seven guards”. It also said that two other civilians died in the attack with five injured: “The source pointed to the death of an elderly man and a child and the wounding of four children and a woman, all civilians living in a house near the targeted location.”
Elnashra instead reported that “militants’ sites announced the killing of two civilians, including a child, and the injury of four children and a woman, following the bombing of international coalition aircraft town of Al-Shafa in the southern suburb of Deir al-Zour.’” It did not mention any women killed in the ISIS house.
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Sha’afa, for which the generic coordinates are: 34.57888, 40.93441. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.