Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In an incident not previously tracked by Airwars, the Coalition later confirmed the deaths of two civilians.
In January 2018, their monthly civilian casualty report noted “During a Coalition strike which destroyed an ISIS indirect fire weapon system it was assessed that two civilians were unintentionally killed when they inadvertently crossed into the area of the blast after the weapons were fired from a Coalition aircraft.”
Coalition officials told Airwars this incident occurred at the location 37SEV004797 (Military grid reference with a 100 m accuracy) which placed the event at the Hurriyah neighbourhood.
Although Airwars researchers have not monitored local reports of civilian harm that mention the Hurriyah neighbourhood specifically for this date, there were multiple civilian casualty events in Raqqa on the day.
Those other, locally reported events might or might not relate to this Coalition-reported incident — most likely an event in the neighbouring Al Hadika al Bayda area or one that targeted the electricity directorate building.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (1) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Aug. 7, 2017 near Raqqah, Syria via self-report. During a Coalition strike which destroyed an ISIS indirect fire weapon system it was assessed that two civilians were unintentionally killed when they inadvertently crossed into the area of the blast after the weapons were fired from a Coalition aircraft.
Original strike reports
For August 7th-8th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 25 strikes engaged 17 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 37 fighting positions, two command and control nodes, two weapons caches, two vehicles, and a weapons depot.” It additionally reported that “On Aug. 7, near Raqqah, Syria, six strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, an ISIS communications tower, and a mortar system.”