Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to many reported, two brothers were killed in Al Qaim or al Hari in Syria, near the Iraqi border. Reports were contested: one source implied that Iraqi aircraft may have been responsible, while a number of sources identified Russia as the culprit, one source attributed the attack to the Coalition and others did not apportion blame. The Coalition itself has reported airstrikes in the vicinity at the time.
The Euphrates Post reported that the two brothers were killed as a result of an air strike targeting the city of Al-Qaim in Iraq today.
It is important to note that a number of sources reported that the brothers were killed in a village southeast of Abu Kamal, either by Coalition or Russian aircraft. A tweet by @Yousef339y noted: Russian occupation aircraft bombing the village of Hari on the border with Iraq.
Additionally, an adult man was reported killed in the same attack as the Al-Zein brothers.
The Violations Documentation Center in Syria stated that the three civilians were killed by international coalition forces.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
- Mohammed Nasser Al-Zein Child male Via Lawhat Bukmalna FB account killed
- Ahmed Nasser Al-Zein Child male Via Lawhat Bukmalna FB account killed
- Anwar Hajem Adult male Via Asaad Al Sattam killed
Summary
Sources (26) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Qaim (القائم), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.3957715, 40.9943684. Due to the limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Attached to this civilian harm incident is the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, 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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The report contains insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility
Original strike reports
For October 7th – 8th the Coalition reported “Near Al Qaim, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a headquarters and a vehicle.”