Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to 16 civilians, including several women and children, were killed and dozens more injured in airstrikes on Khasham village in Deir Ezzor governorate. However, it was not clear who was responsible with allegations lodged against the Coalition, the Russian air force and the Syrian government.
In total, five sources alleged that the Coalition was responsible, four sources said Bashar al Assad’s government was to blame, three said Russia was responsible and six sources did not reach a final conclusion apportioning blame.
A number of reliable sources – including Smart News Agency, Euphrates Post, Radio al Kul and Baladi News – reported that phosphorous munitions were used in the attack, likely to be a contributing factor to the high casualty rates.
Several sources also reported that after the initial strike, the aircraft returned and struck a house where civilians had taken cover during the original attack.
Several victims were identified by name, but many others who were killed remained unidentified, sources reported.
DeirEzzor24 reported that of the wounded, several were critically ill and suffered from amputations, burns and maiming.
Radio al Kul reported similar injuries and said the death toll was likely to rise with 15 of 50 or more injured in a life-threatening condition.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (8)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Khasham (خشام), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.3020098, 40.2914143. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (21) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]
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A reported victim of the contested strike at Khisham, June 20th 2017 (via Deirezzor24) -
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A reported victim of the contested strike at Khisham, June 20th 2017 (via Deirezzor24)
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:
Original strike reports
The Coalition has not publicly reported any strikes in Deir Ezzor for June 19th-21st..