Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A civilian male identified as killed in alleged Coalition airstrikes on Raqqa, Ahmed al Shibli reported.
It is possible that Mr al Zaher may have been killed or injured in an earlier incident on June 28th where brothers with the same surname were killed, but that his name was not identified until now.
No further details are presently known.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Ar Raqqah (الرقة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.9505639, 39.0094148. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (1) [ collapse]
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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The report contains insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.
Original strike reports
For July 3rd – 4th the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 15 strikes engaged 10 ISIS tactical units; destroyed seven fighting positions, three mortar systems, two sections of wall, two vehicles, an anti-air artillery system, a heavy machine gun, and an explosives cache; damaged five ISIS supply routes; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.”
It additionally reported that “On July 3, near Raqqah, Syria, 12 strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; and destroyed 10 fighting positions, a VBIED, an anti-air artillery system, and a UAS launch site; damaged 25 fighting positions; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.”
And that “On July 3, near Raqqah, Syria, one strike destroyed eight ISIS fighting positions and a VBIED factory and damaged 10 fighting positions.”