Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A local source said that many civilians were killed or injured by Coalition airstrikes on Rashidiyah neighborhood in the north east of Mosul.
Iraqi Turkmen Front Mosul reported that their bodies were still under the rubble. It made appeal to the international Coalition “not to target civilians through inaccurate air raids or indiscriminate shelling of the Turkmen cities” that are under ISIL control.
Another source, Diyalafromheart, reported on Facebook about “victims in the East of Mosul”. However, it blamed the Iraqi Air Force for the bombing.
In its May 2017 casualty report, the Coalition said it had assessed the incident as Non Credible based on a lack of available information: “Jan. 17, 2017, near Mosul, Iraq, via social media report: After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that there is insufficient information available to determine if civilians were present or harmed in this strike.”
The Coalition confirmed to Airwars that this assessment related to the al Rashidiyah allegation. We continue to grade this as a Contested event.
Summary
Sources (4) [ 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
-
After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For January 16th-17th the Coalition publicly noted: “Near Mosul, four strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units; destroyed a command and control node, aheavy machine gun, a tactical vehicle, 14 fighting positions, two vehicles, a mortar, an ISIL-held building, a VBIED, and an ISIL weapons factory; suppressed an ISIL mortar team and artillery crew; and damaged 32 supply routes and an ISIL defensive berm.”