Airwars assessment
Between 12 and 23 civilians were reported killed, and others wounded, following US-led Coalition airstrikes near The White Garden (Hadiqa Bayda) area, in Raqqa City.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented 12 civilian casualties, whereas the majority of other sources reported 17 or 18 killed, including women and children.
The air raid reportedly struck an apartment building, which led to significant material destruction and the bodies of those killed were reportedly “under the rubble”. According to Thiqa News, there was “difficulty moving the debris and the bodies due to continuous bombardment and lack of resources”.
There is some contestation regarding the specific location of the incident. Shaam News Network claimed The White Garden was in the Wanda neighbourhood, whereas all other sources cited The White Garden area. The US-led Coalition was cited as the culprit by all sources.
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered later posted images of what it said was the destruction of the Mecca tower in the vicinity, while the Syrian Observatory later reported that “The SOHR documented the death of 23 persons, including 11 children and 3 women, as a result of shelling by the International Coalition warplanes that targeted Al-Raqqah center. Their bodies have been recovered and identified by their relatives and it turned out that most of them belong to the same family.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (23) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention The White Garden (الحديقة البيضاء) and Al Wahdah (الوحد) neighbourhood. The coordinates for The White Garden (الحديقة البيضاء) are: 35.960556, 38.9975. The generic coordinates for Al Wahda (الوحد) neighbourhood are: 35.960196, 39.000776. Airwars is unable to geolocate the photographs of the destroyed buildings, it is possible that they show the aftermath of an unrelated incident.
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 28th -29th the Coalition reported “Near Raqqah, 12 strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units and destroyed nine fighting positions, a logistics node and a VBIED.” It additionally reported that “On Aug. 28, near Raqqah, Syria, 46 strikes engaged 32 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 37 fighting positions, two VBIEDs, a UAS, and a command and control node.” And that “On Aug. 28, near Raqqah, Syria, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed five fighting positions.”
‘Monday 28 August – Typhoons hit three terrorist-held buildings in Raqqa, whilst Tornados and Typhoons struck ten positions north of Tal Afar…Raqqa operations continued on Monday 28 August, when Typhoons hit three more terrorist-held buildings. In Iraq, Iraqi forces engaged Daesh forces positioned several miles north of Tal Afar, and our aircraft provide close air support, conducting attacks on ten buildings occupied by the extremists.’