Airwars assessment
Up to 20 civilians including seven children and their mother died in an alleged Coalition airstrike on the al Badou and al Takana neighbourhoods in Raqqa, according to local media.
All sources blamed the US-led Coalition, and put the minimum death toll at eight.
According to Sound and Picture and Raqqa18, 10 people from the Al-Junaid family died. Other sources said the victims included a woman and her seven children.
RNN put the number killed even higher, at 20 civilians, adding that most of them were from the Al-Junaid family.
@Khaled_qahtan reported that dozens were killed and wounded in the event, while A’amaq [ISIS propaganda] published a very graphic video (below) showing child casualties reportedly from the incident. Other sources published images taken from this footage.
The Syrian Observatory reported “the death of 8 citizens they are a woman, 2 male children and 5 female children, all of them are of one family, as a result of bombing by the International Coalition on areas in Al-Raqqah City,”
The incident occured around dusk.
Summary
Sources (24) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (15) [ collapse]
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Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Raqqa neighbourhoods of Al Badou (حارة البدو) and Al Thakana (حي الثكنة). Reports of the incident mention that the alleged Coalition airstrike targeted barracks in the neighbourhood of Al Thakana, for which the coordinates are: 35.9478905, 39.0067863. The coordinates for the neighbourhood of Al Badou are: 35.958889, 39.008889
Attached to this civilian harm incident is the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, 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 August 3rd-4th: “Near Raqqah, 11 strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, a mortar system, a vehicle, a VBIED and a supply route.”