Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least nine civilians, including women and children, were reported killed and several others wounded due to an alleged Coalition strikes, according to several local sources.
Yaqein reported that the Coalition killed 21 civilians, mostly women and children and wounded ten others included 7 children. A source told Yaqein that “the bombing focused on the areas of Saada and al-Obeidi,” and destroyed four houses along with seven cars belonging to civilians.
Muntathar al Zaidi Al Harari put the number of injured at 13. News of Iraq put the death toll at 9 (all from one family), while Al Gharbia reported that 12 civilians had died and one child was identified by name.
In an emailed response to a report submitted by Airwars on this and other incidents in December 2016, Coalition officials said the event was presently assessed as ‘Not credible.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Qa’im (القائم), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.3957715, 40.9943684. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (7) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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A picture of Ayham Ibrahim Jassam, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Al Qa'im, Anbar on December 3rd, 2016 (via Alqaim Alhadath)
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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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area of the reported civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For December 2nd-3rd, the Coalition reported no strikes near Al Qaim but reported “Near Rawah, one strike destroyed a VBIED factory.”