Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Two children were reportedly killed in an alleged Coalition strike on the town of Hemidiat to the west of Mosul.
According to Shafaqna and others, the strike hit the commercial district of the town: “The death of two children has beeen reported from an aerial bombardment by international Coalition aircraft west of Mosul. Early detection of a local source, on Thursday, reports the death of two children in an aerial bombardment by planes of the so-called international alliance which targeted Hmeidat west of the city of Mosul.”
In its monthly civilian casualty report for October 2019 – published on December 5th of that year, the Coalition assessed the event as ‘non credible’, noting that “February 3, 2015, in Humaidat, Iraq, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2781/CI037 38SLF188306”
Coalition officials also provided Airwars with a geolocation to within 100 metres of the area reviewed.
However, Airwars had initially wrongly placed this event on February 3rd 2015 on its website. This has now been corrected, and the Coalition has re-opened the incident for review.
In the first of their March 2020 civilian casualty reports, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area at that time.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Location for Hemedat village (Humaidat حميداتx) 36.40389 42.9789
Summary
Sources (5) [ 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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February 3, 2015, in Humaidat, Iraq, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2781/CI037 38SLF188306
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Dec. 3, 2015, in Humaidat, Iraq, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2781/CI037 38SLF187306
Original strike reports
The Coalition reported one strike nearby for December 2nd-3rd: “Near Mosul, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle.“