Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to local sources, a Coalition airstrike at Ar Rutbah resulted in the deaths of seven civilians and the injuring of an additional 13.
News of Iraq reported that the attack destroyed the house of Aref Abrash in Methaq neighbourhood, and the home of Abdullah al-Fayad near the Mustafa mosque.
A propaganda video issued by Al A’Amaq showed a number of injured civilians, along with widespread damage to central Ar Rutbah.
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
Reports of the incident mention the city of Ar Rutbah (الرطبة), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.036997, 40.285862. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ 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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May 11, 2016 in Ar Rutbah, 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. 2949/CI237 37SFS200561
Original strike reports
For May 10th-11th 2016 the Coalition reported that “Near Ar Rutbah, one strike produced inconclusive results.”