Incident Code

CS1380

Location

Mu'awiya school/Mal'ab Al-Aswad area, Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

35.960023, 39.003649
Accuracy: Exact location (via Airwars)

Airwars Assessment

Last Updated: December 15, 2024

(Previous Incident Code: S1206)

Thirty civilians including up to 13 children and three women from three families died and dozens more were injured in alleged Coalition airstrikes and artillery shelling on Raqqa, according to local sources. Reports said that the entire Al-Sayer Al-Enezi family died in the strike – along with multiple members of other families.

There was, however, some confusion about the location of the event. According to Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently – which put the death toll at 30 – the Al-Sayer family died in the Mu’awiua school area. However, Ahmad Shbli reported that the family were killed in a strike on the Mal’ab Al-Aswad area, along with Idan al-Abo al-Issa and his wife.

Sharqiya Voice, also blaming the Coalition, said that the Al-Sayer family died in the Mu’awiya school district. And according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the family died in the al Tawase’eya neighbourhood.

Sky News, Masrawi and Qasioun said that Coalition raids on the Mu’awiya school area killed 23 civilians including thirteen children from the Al-Enezi family.

Sound and Picture provided the most detail on the event, reporting that “30 civilians were killed and dozens were injured in an air strike by the International Air Force aircraft targeting a residential building near the school of Muawiya bin Abi Sufian in the Al Wahda neighbourhood (Unity neighbourhood), in the city of Raqqa.

Three civilian families were killed in a coalition air strike targeting the building in which they live, totalling least 30 people, most of them women and children. The correspondent denied the existence of any IS headquarters in the building.”

The joint Amnesty and Airwars’s report from 2019 “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality” reported in details about how the strikes killed members of the al-Sayer family.  Hafia, the wife of Mahmoud Lafi al-Sayer, told Amnesty that “at 2 am, an airstrike of the home of Haifa al-Sheikh killed 12 members of her family – five children, three women and four men. The carnage occurred only hours after she had lost her brother and nine other relatives in an air strike on her brother’s home.”

Haifa told Amnesty’s researcher that “I picked up the dead, the children; they were in pieces. This was a beautiful home, a happy home. Now nothing remains. I spend every moment of every day thinking about them. May God give me strength.”

In total, Hafnia lost her husband Mahmud Lafi al-Sayer, her sons Azzam and Husam, nieces Rawda Lafi al-Sayer and Amira lafi al-Sayer, nephew Muthanna Barakat al-Sayer, 34 and his wife Hanadi Khalaf al-Saba, pregnant, and their six children; Taima’, Hamza, Basma, Rahma and Azzam and their unborn fetus.

 

Victims

Family members (13)

Mahmoud Lafi Al - Sayer
61 years old male killed
Rawda Lafi Al - Sayer
48 years old female killed
Amira Lafi Al - Sayer
45 years old female killed
Marwan Barakat Lafi Al - Sayer
Age unknown male killed
Hanadi Khalaf al-Sabaa
Age unknown female pregnant Marwan Barakat Lafi Al - Sayer's wife killed
Muthanna Marwan Barakat Al - Sayer
34 years old male killed
Tayma Marwan Barakat Al - Sayer
10 years old female killed
Hamza Marwan Barakat Al - Sayer
9 years old male killed
Basma Marwan Barakat Al - Sayer
5 years old female killed
Rahma Marwan Barakat Al-Sayer
4 years old male killed
Azzam Marwan Barakat Al - Sayer
23 years old male killed
Husam al-Sayer
19 years old male killed
unborn fetus of Hanadi
killed

Family members (2)

Idan al-Abo al-Issa
Adult male killed
Idan al-Abo al-Issa's wife
Age unknown female killed

Family members (3)

Ibrahim Hassan Al Awad
Age unknown male killed
Yahya Hassan Al Awad
Age unknown male killed
Sumaya Yahya Hassan Al Awad
Age unknown female killed

Invidivuals

Hajj Hussein Abdo al - Kurdi
Adult male killed
Saeed Mohammed Al Mahmoud
Age unknown male killed
Yasser Al - Humaidi
Age unknown male killed
Hanadi Khalaf al-Shamailani al-Anzi
Age unknown female killed

Key Information

Country
Military Actor
Civilian Harm Reported
Yes
Civilian Harm Status
Fair
Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
Civilians reported killed
30
4–13 Children, 2–3 Women, 3 Men
Civilians reported injured
12–36

Geolocation Notes

The Muawiya school (مدرسة معاوية بن ابي سفيان), the stadium and Al Ansar mosque (مسجد الأنصار) in the Al Wahdah area (marked in red)

Imagery: © 2019 Google

Before the attack.

After the attack.

Military Statements

U.S.-led Coalition Assessment
Suspected belligerent
U.S.-led Coalition
U.S.-led Coalition position on incident
Not yet assessed
U.S.-led Coalition Strike Report
For August 16th-17th, the Coalition reported: “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.” It additionally reported that “On Aug. 16, near Raqqah, Syria, 23 strikes engaged 16 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 18 fighting positions, eight command and control nodes, two tunnels, two heavy machine guns, an ISIS UAS, an anti-aircraft artillery system and an ISIS line of communication.” And that “On Aug. 16, near Raqqah, Syria, five strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two command and control nodes and a mortar system.”
UK Military Strike Report
‘Thursday 17 August – Tornados and Typhoons attacked a mortar near Tall Afar, and two machine-gun teams and a sniper in Raqqa...With the Iraqi forces advancing on Tal Afar, a mixed Tornado and Typhoon pair provided close air support on Thursday 17 August. A coalition surveillance aircraft spotted a terrorist mortar, and was able to guide our aircraft into a successful attack with a Paveway IV. A second mixed pair maintained operations over Raqqa, and used Paveways to destroy one sniper and two machine-gun teams.’
French Military Strike Report
In the past week, (11th-18th) France conducted 27 sorties, including 22 armed reconnaissance and ground support (CAS), 1 refueling outlet and 4 intelligence gathering sorties by Atlantic 2 or Rafale patrols. Two strikes were carried out in the Raqqah region of Syria. They helped support the Syrian democratic forces in their offensive to retake the city.
French Military Strike Report
For Aug 16-22, France report 5 strikes in Iraq and 2 in Syria. Task Force Wagram conducted 60 artillery missions.

Media From Sources (12)