Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A reported Coalition airstrike at 3.45pm killed up to seven civilians including two children, at Nahiyat Sereen near Aleppo.
One young victim, Mohammad Jassen Al Abou Rakan, was decapitated in the incident, with graphic images of his body widely distributed on social media.
Islamic State later published a propaganda video of the event, including interviews with eyewitnesses and rescuers. One man told the camera: “Civilians coming here to get bread are getting killed. What is this? Where are civilians supposed to go? Are they supposed to go to the wilderness to save themselves? Damn them.“
Another man described the buildings reportedly hit in the raid: “Today the coalition planes came to continue what the criminals from the PKK had started. More than 4 or five missiles were fired at once destroying many houses. The house of Hajj Ali and the house of the son of Hajj Ali; the house of Ali Al Hassani; the house of Mohammad Al Hajrashi; and a big number of civilian shops. All the victims are civilians that have nothing to do with what is happening at all.“
The Syrian Observatory also reported activity by Turkish aircraft in the region on this date.
In its civilian casualty report for October 2019 – published on December 5th of that year, the Coalition assessed this event as ‘not credible, asserting: “July 23, 2015, in Aleppo, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2806/CS104 37SCA328084”.
Officials published a location for the event to within 100 metres of where they had remotely assessed the incident.
The incident occured at 15:45:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (11) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (19) [ collapse]
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Photo of a decapitated child's body tweeted by @abomuslim121212 [account now suspended]. Photo labelled in Sareen and tweeted on 23rd July 2015 -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Tweet from @nasertamimi with very graphic photos of man holding decapitated body of child allegedly as a result of aerial bombardment in IS-held areas. 23rd July 2015 -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Tweet from @nasertamimi with very graphic photos of man holding decapitated body of child allegedly as a result of aerial bombardment in IS-held areas. 23rd July 2015 -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
More graphic photos of the body of a decapitated child in Sareen as a result of 'Saudi and Western bombardment' tweet by Adam the Syrian Tweets on 23rd July 2015. [Account now suspended] -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
More graphic photos of the body of a decapitated child in Sareen as a result of 'Saudi and Western bombardment' tweet by Adam the Syrian Tweets on 23rd July 2015. [Account now suspended] -
Photo of the alleged bombardment of Sareen, Aleppo. Tweeted by Adam the Syrian Tweets on 23rd July 2015. [Account now suspended]
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Photo of an injured child as a result of the alleged bombardment of Sareen, Aleppo. Tweeted by Adam the Syrian Tweets on 23rd July 2015. [Account now suspended] -
Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015] -
Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
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Series of stills from a video broadcast by ISIL-affiliated media with a caption reading 'the crusader coalition planes target the area of Sareen causing deaths and injuries and material damage' [via: @nasertamimi on 24th July 2015]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Nahiyat Sereen near Aleppo (ﺣﻠﺐ), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.206137, 37.140688. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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July 23, 2015, in Aleppo, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2806/CS104 37SCA328084
Original strike reports
No coalition strikes were publicly reported in the vicinity of Sereen between July 22-24th 2015.