Airwars assessment
In an incident not previously tracked by Airwars, on April 1st 2017 the Coalition said it had concluded an assessment on social media claims of civilian harm “near Mosul, Iraq”. According to the Coalition report, “(2.) Jan. 2, 2017, near Mosul, Iraq, via social media report: No Coalition strikes were conducted on that day in the geographic area of the reported civilian casualties.”
The Coalition shared the location of this assessed strike with Airwars. The location was stated as the Mushirfan neighbourhood in Mosul. This matches the location of a separate strike reported by Airwars (I320), also assessed as non-credible in the April 2017 civilian casualties report. Mushirfan is a general area in North West Mosul, Al Harmat a neighbourhood within it.
The strike was assessed as non credible based on the claim that “no Coalition strikes were conducted on that day in the geographic area of the reported civilian casualties.” However, the Coalition reported multiple strikes in Mosul that day.
No additional details are presently known.
Summary
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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No Coalition strikes were conducted on that day in the geographic area of the reported civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For January 1st-2nd the Coalition publicly stated: “Near Mosul, six strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units; destroyed four mortars, five VBIEDs, a heavy machine gun, a vehicle, an ISIL-held building, a pontoon bridge, and three VBIED factories; disabled two bridges; damaged 31 supply routes; and suppressed six mortar teams.”