Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to family members and local reports, four civilians including, Fawaz Yousef Sulaiman Al-Zureiqat aka Abu Yusuf, died in a Coalition strike on the al Nahda neighbourhood, near the al Imam al Nawawi mosque.
Mr al Zureiqat’s death was also reported by his nephew, who noted that “We note the death of my uncle Fawaz Yousef Sulaiman Al-Zureiqat (Abu Yusuf) today in Raqqah. I am with God and I am returning to Him. We will accept the duty of consolation on Thursday and Friday in my home.”
According to the Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality”, “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.
The 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.”
Amnesty International field notes claim that a “small impact radius missile” was fired on the vicinity.
Ismail Akkush was named in Airwars incident CS1535, with two other victims. However due to the extensive Amnesty research discovering he was killed with three other named men, we have removed him from that incident and assessed his death occurred at this location.
In February 2019, the Coalition assessed this event to be non-credible. Their report noted: “After review of all available strike records it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.”
In their subsequent monthly civilian casualty reports, however, the US-led Coalition has indicated that the credibility of Amnesty’s civilian harm allegation is in the process of being assessed.
The incident occured at 06:00:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes (3) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Imam Al Nawawi Mosque (الإمام النووي) in the Al Nahda neighbourhood (النهضة) in the city of Raqqa. The coordinates for the Imam Al Nawawi mosque (الإمام النووي) are: 35.956328, 38.999282. Amnesty research reported the precise location of the building: 35.957219, 38.99924.
Summary
Sources (6) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
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Ismail Akkoush, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Raqqah, Sept 27th (via RBSS)
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Mohammed Ramadhan Sheikh Mohammed, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on 27th Septmber 2017. The pictire shows him alongside his children, who were found with his body, but it is unclear when or where they died.
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Ismail Ibrahim Akkush, killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike, 27th September 2017. (via Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality)
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Sept.27, 2017, near Raqqah, Syria via Airwars report. After review of all available strike records it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.
Original strike reports
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.”