Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1918

Incident date

April 15, 2019

Location

الشعفة, Al Shaafa, Deir Ezzor, Syria

Geolocation

34.57888, 40.93441 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Ali al-Muhammed al-Furaiji and his two wives were killed in the morning of April 15th, when their house was hit by an alleged Coalition airstrike, multiple local sources reported – though there was also a claim that the deaths had been caused by an explosion of an ISIS-planted mine.

@alhasensaleem tweeted that “a whole family” had died, while other sources named the man and his two wives as the victims.

Other sources such as Deir Ezzor 24 said that the house was struck by an unknown explosion.

According to Jisir TV, “local sources said the blast occurred in a house belonging to a civilian, killing his two wives and destroying the house completely, adding that the explosion was believed to be caused by aerial bombardment of coalition fighters, while witnesses said it was caused by a mine left by Daesh.”

In July 2019 the Coalition announced that it had assessed this allegation of civilian harm to be non-credible. Their monthly civilian casualty report noted: “After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties.”

The incident occured in the morning.

The victims were named as:

Family members (3)

Adult male killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3
  • (2 women1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, ISIS

Sources (15) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • The house of Ali al-Muhammad al-Furaiji after it was struck by an airstrike between April 14th and 15th (via Euphrates Post).

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Reason for non-credible assessment
    No Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area
  • Stated location
    Al Shafah, Syria
    Nearest population center
  • Location accuracy
    100 m
  • MGRS coordinate
    37SFU774280
    Military Grid Reference System

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Jul 26, 2019
  • Apr. 15, 2019, Al Shafah, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties.

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

Between April 7 - 20, 2019, CJTF-OIR conducted no strikes in Syria.

ISIS Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    ISIS
  • ISIS position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3
  • (2 women1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, ISIS

Sources (15) [ collapse]