Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In a major casualty incident, as many as between 33 and 60 civilians, including many women and children, died following US-led Coalition airstrikes on Al-Sakhani, Raqqa. Almost a year later the US-led alliance accepted responsibility for 33 deaths.
According to Baladi, the strike was near the Al-Hani mosque, while Qasioun reported that one of the strikes hit a building in which civilians were sheltering.
Local media reported that the airstrike occurred on the 20th August, however recent up to date Amnesty field research conducted has reported the strike to have occurred on the 22nd at 7pm.
Local media reported that the majority of those killed were from the same family. A Tweet by @AhmadShblii identified eight of the victims as displaced persons from Palmyra.
All sources obtained held the US-led Coalition responsible for the alleged massacre. In addition to the civilians that died, “dozens” were suspected injured.
Albosleh and @LaSyrianNews put the death toll as high as 60.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also blamed the Coalition, the 42 civilians it said were killed in the strikes included 19 children. This report may have conflated another, however.
A June 2018 report by Amnesty stated that on 20 August 2017 at 7pm, “Coalition forces simultaneously bombed the two neighbouring houses in which the family were staying.” These air strikes reportedly killed 33 Badran family members and other civilians, mostly women and children. A large number of civilians killed in the airstrike were identified in the report.
In its July 2018 civilian casualty report, the Coalition accepted responsibility for the event: “August 20, 2017, near Raqqah, Syria, via Amnesty International report. During a strike on a reported Daesh position near a residential area allegedly caused civilian casualties. Thirty three civilians were unintentionally killed.”
The Coalition provided Airwars with the location of this incident, accurate to within a 100 metre box.
In the Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality” it was reported that “Thirty-three members of the Badran Family and neighbours, most of them women and children, were killed in the third and most devastating set of four separate air strikes which killed a total of 39 family members and 10 neighbours as they fled from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in search of safety.”
In addition to this, Rasha, a survivor of the strike told Amnesty in a testimony that “Only I, my husband and his brother and cousin survived. In the morning we found Tulip’s body; our baby was dead. We buried her near there, by a tree. I don’t understand why they bombed us. Didn’t the surveillance planes see that we were civilian families?”
The incident occured at 19:00:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (33)
Summary
Sources (41) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (31) [ collapse]
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Khalil Ibrahim Albadran, killed in an alleged Coalition strike near Al-Hini Mosque, (via RBSS)
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' Türkçe · Kurdî (Kurmancî) · العربية · English (UK) · Español Gizlilik · Koşullar · Reklamlar · Ad Choices · Çerezler · Diğer Facebook © 2017 Syrian Network for Human Rights - الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان 6 saat · The women Thuraya, Sumayya, Abtta, Khood, Seddiqa, and Shamsa Mustafa al Daham, killed along with 11 members of their family in International Coalition warplanes missiles fired on al Sakhani alley north of Raqqa city, Aug 20.' (via SN4HR)
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Shahid Abu Aboudabrahim Al Wahab, killed in an alleged Coalition strike on Raqqa (via Sharqiya Voice)
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Mustafa Al-Badran (via RBSS)
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Ibrahim Khalil Al-Badran (via RBSS)
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Qais Mohammed Al-Khader (via RBSS)
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Sama Ibrahim Al-Badran (via RBSS)
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Mohammed Ibrahim Abdulwahab Al-Fahed (via RBSS)
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Ali Ibrahim Al-Badran (via RBSS)
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Photo of the aftermath of the air strike (via RWB)
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Tulip Badran (via Amnesty)
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Aftermath of the air strike (via Amnesty)
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Members of Al-Badran family killed in the air strike (via Amnesty)
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Satellite images of the destroyed house in the air strike (via Amnesty)
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Abta, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Ahmad, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Ali al Badran ibn Mustapha, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Daham, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Hamza, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Khadja, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Madonna Daham, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Mays, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Osama, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Qays, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Saddiqa, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Sahar, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Saja, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Shamsa, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Sidra, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Thuraya, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
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Tulip Tuteh, killed in a mass civilian casualty airstrike by alleged Coalition planes on August 22nd 2017. (via Amnesty)
Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Al Sakhani (السخاني) neighbourhood of Raqqah, near the Al Hani (الحني) mosque, for which the coordinates are: 35.951373, 39.016984. Following field research by Amnesty International, the incident was found credible by the US-led Coalition, who provided the following MGRS coordinate (accurate to 100m): 37SEV014786.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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August 20, 2017, near Raqqah, Syria, via Amnesty International report. During a strike on a reported Daesh position near a residential area allegedly caused civilian casualties. Thirty three civilians were unintentionally killed.
Original strike reports
For August 19th-20th: “Near Raqqah, five strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions.” It additionally added that “On Aug. 19, near Raqqah, Syria, 36 strikes engaged 22 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 29 fighting positions and seven command and control nodes.” That “On Aug. 19, near Raqqah, Syria, six strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed five fighting positions, an IED, and a command and control node.” And that “On Aug. 19, near Raqqah, Syria, one strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.”
For Aug 16-22, France report 5 strikes in Iraq and 2 in Syria. Task Force Wagram conducted 60 artillery missions.
‘Sunday 20 August – Tornados and Typhoons hit a target in Raqqa, a group of terrorists and vehicles in eastern Syria, and five Daesh positions around Tal Afar…On Sunday 20 August, Typhoons bombed a further Daesh position in Raqqa. In eastern Syria, Tornados targeted a group of terrorists deployed near the border with Iraq – two Paveways hit their trucks and killed several of the extremists.