Airwars assessment
In an incident not previously tracked by Airwars, on July 7th 2017 the Coalition said it had concluded an assessment on claims of civilian harm “near Mosul, Iraq” by Human Rights Watch. According to the Coalition report, “83. April 18, 2017, near Mosul, Iraq, via media report: After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographic area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.”
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.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
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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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographic area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For April 17th-18th the Coalition reported that “Near Mosul, six strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; these destroyed five fighting positions, three VBIEDs, one mortar system, and one front-end loader; damaged three fighting positions and two supply routes; and suppressed one ISIS tactical unit, one mortar team and one artillery system.”