Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1379a

Incident date

August 16, 2017

Location

Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

35.957289, 38.994414 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Exact location (via Airwars) level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

In Amnesty and Airwars’ joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality”, three civilians were reportedly killed in alleged Coalition artillery strikes in Raqqa.

Although Airwars generally assesses single sourced incidents as “weak”, our researchers have assessed this incident “fair” due to the depth of material provided by Amnesty.

The Amnesty report noted that “Ahmad Mohammed al-Hammadi, a mathematics teacher, 65, his wife Zahra Mahammed al-Khamri, 50, and their son Abderrahman Ahmad al-Hammadi, 20, were killed by an artillery strike on their home. A month earlier their other son, Abdallah, was killed in another artillery strike while fetching water from a well.”

The daughter of the victim, Maha, told Amnesty in testimony that “Only me and my sister survived. We have no one left. My brother Abdallah was killed by the well when he went to fetch water, then my parents and my brother Aabderrahman, Abdallah’s twin, were killed when our home was hit by a shell.”

In July 2019 the Coalition announced that it had assessed this allegation of civilian harm to be non-credible. Their monthly civilian casualty report noted: “After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties.”

The incident occured around midday.

The victims were named as:

Family members (3)

Ahmad Mohammed al-Hammadi
65 years old male mathematics teacher killed
Zahra Mahammed al-Khamri
50 years old female wife of Ahmad killed
Abderrahman Ahmad al-Hammadi
20 years old male son of Ahmad and Zahra killed

Summary

  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3
  • (1 woman2 men)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected attacker
    US-led Coalition

Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]

  • Abderrahman Ahmad Al Hammadi, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on 16th August 2017. (via Amnesty)
  • Ahmad Mohammed Al Hammadi, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on 16th August 2017. (via Amnesty)
  • Zahra Mohammed Al Khamri, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on 16th August 2017. (via Amnesty)
  • Abderrahman Ahmad Al Hammadi, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on 16th August 2017. (via Amnesty) He is with a member of his family, Abdallah Ahmad Al Hammadi, who was also killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on 12th July 2017.
CJTF–OIR Declassified Assessment and Press Release

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.

Declassified Assessment Press Release

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Reason for non-credible assessment
    No Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area
  • Stated location
    in Raqqa, Syria
    Nearest population center
  • Location accuracy
    100 m
  • MGRS coordinate
    37SDV995792
    Military Grid Reference System

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Jul 26, 2019
  • Aug. 17, 2017, in Raqqa, Syria, via Amnesty International report. After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties.

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

Near Raqqah, 20 strikes engaged 16 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 17 fighting positions, a
logistics node, an IED, a command and control node, an ISIS UAS and a vehicle.

Summary

  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3
  • (1 woman2 men)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected attacker
    US-led Coalition