Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1054a

Incident date

June 21, 2017

Location

Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

35.957716, 38.991572 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Exact location (via Airwars) level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

In the Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality”, six civilians were reportedly killed in alleged Coalition airstrikes in Raqqa. Although Airwars assesses single sourced incidents as “weak”, researchers have assessed this incident “fair” due to the depth of material provided by Amnesty.

According to Amnesty, the strike occurred in the night between the 21st and 22nd of June.

The report states that “The six men were killed by an air strike by the entrance of the building where female members of the Merbad family were staying immediately after the air strike which killed their relatives.” Despite this, only one victim has been identified.

“Maha”, a witness of the raid told Amnesty in a testimony that “Nasser was displaced form Deir Ezzor. He and the other five had been helping to rescue the survivors from the Dueihi family and from my family, after our homes had been bombed.”

Allegedly he had been engaged in helping to rescue victims at ‘”Dueihi’s house” from a previous strike, then he moved onto another house and finally the building where he and five others were killed.

The building is exactly opposite al-Rayan bakery.

The incident occured during the night.

The victims were named as:

Nasser Jidi (al-Khailaq)
Adult male killed

Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]

  • Satellite image of the destroyed building before the strike on June 2, 2017

    Imagery:
    Amnesty International

  • Satellite image of the destroyed building after the strike on July 6, 2017

    Imagery:
    Amnesty International

Summary

  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6
  • (1–6 men)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]

  • Artillery shell in Fardous neighbourhood by the Rayan bakery (via Amnesty International)
  • Artillery shells in Fardous neighbourhood by the Rayan bakery (via Amnesty International)
  • Artillery shell in Fardous neighbourhood by the Rayan bakery (via Amnesty International)
  • Artillery shells in Fardous neighbourhood by the Rayan bakery (via Amnesty International)

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

Not yet assessed.

Summary

  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6
  • (1–6 men)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition