Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Civilians from three families were killed in alleged Coalition airstrikes which hit the Al Hariri building, near the Al Ateeq Mosque in Raqqa.
All ten sources reporting the incident alleged that the Coalition was responsible. Despite this the Coalition has responded that there was no civilian harm as a result of Coalition action. “Thorough review of available evidence indicated Coalition activity did not cause the alleged civilian casualties.”
Initial Airwars research indicated the airstrike occurred on the 2nd of July, however Amnesty field research has uncovered the airstrike occurred on the 1st of July at 5pm.
Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality”, reported that “Nine people – seven children, one woman and one man – from three families were killed when a three storey house was destroyed in an air strike.”
In a survivors testimony, the mother of the al Abdullah family, Rimal, stated in an emotional interview that “My entire family was taken from me, why? My four children and my husband; everything that was dear to me. Why did they kill them? I have nothing left to live for.”
The incident occured at 17:00:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (5)
Family members (3)
Family members (1)
Summary
Sources (11) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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Yasser Al-Abdullah and four of his children - A’ssaf, Zain, Jude abd Rimas - died in a reported Coalition strike on Ar Raqqah, July 2nd 2017. (via RBSS)
Geolocation notes
The Al-Hariri building near the Old Mosque was hit by airstrikes at 35.954908, 39.023073. The building was a three story house.
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 and strike video it was assessed that there is insufficient evidence to find civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For July 2nd – 3rd: “Near Raqqah, 14 strikes engaged 13 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 10 fighting positions and a mortar system.” It additionally reported that “On July 2, near Raqqah, four strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed two VBIEDs, an ISIS communications tower, and a fighting position; and damaged 32 fighting positions.”
‘Sunday 2 July – Tornados and Typhoons struck four Daesh positions in Mosul, and two in Raqqa…On Sunday 2 July, mixed pairs of Tornados and Typhoons operated over both Mosul and Raqqa. In Mosul, the Iraqi ground forces encountered three groups of snipers – all three positions, plus another Daesh-held building, were successfully struck with Paveways. In similar fashion, Paveway IVs were used against two terrorist firing points in Raqqa.’