Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to 17 civilians including women and children died and 10 more were wounded in alleged Coalition airstrikes on Raqqa, according to local media.
Most sources put the death toll at six with 10 more injured and blamed a “US bombing” of Raqqa neighbourhoods.
However, on August 5th the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights “documented the death of at least 10 persons including 2 children and 1 citizen woman. They were killed in the past 24 hours” – but some caution is required as this could be a general number and not specific to just this event.
A report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights put the death toll at 17, “including 7 children and 5 women, IDPs from al Bab city in Aleppo”, and said that they died when Coalition missiles struck a residential building.
The incident was first reported on August 4, 2017 at 8:33 pm by @AbuMuaazalRaqqah.
Summary
Sources (13) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident only mention the city of Raqqa (الرقة), for which the coordinates are: 35.9505639, 39.0094148. Due to limited information and satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further
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 August 4th-5th the Coalition reported that “On Aug. 4, near Raqqah, 11 strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed seven fighting positions, a staging area, and a tunnel..” It also stated that “On Aug. 4, near Raqqah, Syria, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed five fighting positions; and damaged a fighting position.”
‘Friday 4 August – Typhoons struck an ammunition factory and three sniper positions in Raqqa…An improvised ammunition factory had been identified in a large single-storey building in Raqqa, and this was struck with two Paveway IVs from Typhoons on Friday 4 August. The Typhoons then conducted two further strikes with Paveways against sniper positions, while a second Typhoon flight dealt with a third sniper team.’