Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A number of sources report that up to 10 civilians, including possibly children, were killed after the coalition mistakenly bombed the wrong village. According to the Stepagency site: “Today six children and a few other civilians were killed in the village of Salima after the coalition planes bombed the village by mistake as it was supposed to bomb the village of Khuza’a, which lies next door and where fierce battles are taking place between IS and Kurdish militia. A number of other civilians were martyred when the coalition bombed the villages of Lazzaka and al Taweel.”
Other sources reported only two non-combatants killed.
In February 2019, the Coalition assessed this event to be not credible – their report noted: “After review of all available strike records it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.”
The incident occured around dusk.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (6) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the strike to have occurred in the village of Salima (قرية سليمة), near Al-Shadadi (الشدادي ), Al Hasaka, in the “evening”. The coordinates for the midpoint of Salima (قرية سليمة) are: 36.5842441, 41.6493416. The incident was first reported at 00:05, Feb. 23rd, 2015 local time by Step Agency
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Feb. 22, 2015, near Salima, al-Shadadi, Syria, via Airwars report. After review of all available strike records it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.
Original strike reports
The coalition has confirmed 13 airstrikes in the vicinity. It reports that for February 21st-22nd 2015, “Near Al Hasakah, two airstrikes struck two ISIL tactical units.”