Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to local sources, up to 12 civilians were killed in an airstrike on the town of Mjawda. Local sources were conflicted as to who was to blame, with some attributing blame to Russia, while others attributed blame to the US-led Coalition.
Both the Violations Documentation Center and Euphrates Post identified eight victims of the attack – while VDC-SY identified the Coalition as the culprit, Euphrates stated that Russian aircraft were behind the attack.
According to a tweet by @ahraralmyadein, aircraft had deployed 15 missiles on the town.
SyrianPC reported warplanes launched more than 20 air raids on villages and towns in eastern Deir Ezzor. According to the outlet, Russian warplanes committed the most terrible massacres against civilians in the east of countryside of Deir al-Azzur, as part of his fierce campaign against the region.
Euphrates Post, the Syrian Network for Human Rights and Baladi News confirmed that Russia was the culprit, with the latter outlet noting that: Seven civilians were killed on Wednesday by aerial bombardment of aircraft believed to be Russian. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the highest tally of 12 civilians killed, including three women and a child – while Albokmal News specifically stated in a tweet that “there are no casualties.
In the first of their September 2020 civilian casualty reports, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that the allegation provided insufficient information on the timing and location of the strike to make a determination.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (8)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the province/governorate of Al Mjawda (المجاودة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.150000, 40.270000. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (12) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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An image shows the aftermath of the airstrike on the town of Mjawda, October 11, 2017 (Via Baladi news)
Attached to this civilian harm incident is a provisional reconciliation of the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, based on matching date and locational information.
The declassified documents were obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, and are included alongside the corresponding press release published by the Pentagon. Airwars is currently analysing the contents of each file, and will update our own assessments accordingly.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Oct. 11, 2017, in Al Mjawda, Syria, via Airwars report. The report contains insufficient information on time, location, or details to assess its credibility. 3156/CS1620 No MGRS Given
Original strike reports
For October 10th – 11th the Coalition reported that “Near Abu Kamal, one strike destroyed two ISIS vehicles and two trailers.”