Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1681

Incident date

November 21, 2017

Location

سوح الرفاعي, Souh al Rifai camp, Abu Kamal countryside, Deir Ezzor, Syria

Geolocation

34.619365, 40.456123 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Three civilians, a father and his two daughters, died and many more were wounded in shelling of a camp for displaced people in the Abu Kamal countryside. It was not clear who was responsible for the incident as no sources apportioned blame.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, unidentified warplanes carried out a massacre in the area of South Al-Refaei camp in the desert of Al-Bukamal. It said that a man and his two daughters died and that many more civilians were wounded – many seriously.

Sharqiya Voice named a man killed with his daughters by aircraft and artillery shelling of the camp, but didn’t say who was responsible.

The Coalition publicly reported no airstrikes in Syria that day.

 

The incident was first reported on November 21, 2017 at 8:00 am by .

The victims were named as:

Family members (3)

Adult male via Sharqiya Voice killed
female via Sharqiya Voice killed
female via Sharqiya Voice killed

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention Suh Al Rifai (سوح الرفاعي), an Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp, and the countryside of Abu Kamal, near the village of Mu’ayzilah (معيزيلة), for which the coordinates are: 34.619365, 40.456123. Satellite imagery available to Airwars from December 2017 shows tents of IDP around the following coordinates: 34.483620, 40.531890

  • Location of IDP tents seen on satellite imagery of December 2017, near the village of Mu'ayzilah (معيزيلة)

    Imagery:
    © 2018 Google

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3
  • (2 children1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Unknown

Sources (2) [ collapse]

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
    No Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None
  • Stated location
    Souh al Rifai camp, Abu Kamal countryside, Deir ez-Zor
    Nearest population center
  • Location accuracy
    100 m
  • MGRS coordinate
    37SFU526547
    Military Grid Reference System

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For November 20th-21st, the Coalition reported: “Near Abu Kamal, one strike destroyed an ISIS vehicle.”

Unknown Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Unknown
  • Unknown position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    3
  • (2 children1 man)
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Unknown

Sources (2) [ collapse]