Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1535

Incident date

September 27, 2017

Location

الرقة, Ar Raqqah, Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

35.9505639, 39.0094148 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Two civilian males died in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Raqqah, according to local sources.

Few additional details are presently known, though Mr Habal was said to have died in his home.

Ismail Akkush was, according to extensive Amnesty field research, killed alongside three other men, as reported in Airwars incident CS1536. We have therefore removed him from this incident despite sources reporting he died in this raid.

According to the Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality” (https://raqqa.amnesty.org/), “An air strike killed four men who were burying their neighbour, Mohammed al-Wadi (47), who had been killed by Islamic State fighters the previous day, in another neighbour’s garden. During the war the dead were buried in parks and gardens, as it was impossible to reach the cemetery, which was outside Raqqa.” The garden belonged to Abdul Rahman al-Qantar. Ismail Akkush was one of those four men, according to a victims relative.

The relative (father) of Abdallah al-Wadi gave a testimony to Amnesty International stating that, “My son was shot dead by Daesh (IS) fighters and the following morning four neighbours were burying him in the garden of a nearby house when an air strike killed all four of them.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Osama Mar'i Juha
Adult male Known as Hamwi killed
Mohammed Walid Habal
Adult male Also known as Abu Alaa killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incidents mention the city of Raqqa (الرقة), for which the coordinates are: 35.9505639, 39.0094148. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2
  • (2 men)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (13) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

  • Osama Merai Juha (right), killed in a strike on Raqqah, Sept 27th (via Waleed Matar)
  • Mohammed Walid Habal
  • Osama Mar'i Juha

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
    Insufficient information on the time and location
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None
  • Stated location
    near Raqqah, Syria
    Nearest population center

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Jun 28, 2018
  • The report contains insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For September 26th-27th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 35 strikes engaged 15 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 26 fighting positions, four vehicles, four ISIS supply routes, a heavy machine gun and suppressed five ISIS tactical units.” It additionally reported that “On Sept. 26, near Raqqah, Syria, seven strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed 16 VBIEDs, three vehicles, two ISIS supply routes, a fighting position and suppressed two fighting positions.”

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2
  • (2 men)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (13) [ collapse]