(Previous Incident Codes: R419S160RS487)

Up to 15 civilians were killed including two children, following an airstrike on the village of Ajajah. The attack was initially attributed to the Coalition. However later reports blamed the deaths on Russia.

According to the Syrian Observatory “Two children and a man were killed and others injured in bombing by warplanes believed to be from the international coalition. They targeted areas in Ajajah village, which is controlled by so called Islamic State.“

The Union of Hassakah Youth also initially blamed the attack on the Coalition, though later said Russia was responsible: “At about 13:00 Russian MiGs carried out a raid on Al Mafrak road connecting the villages of Ajaja and Al Hadadiya – targeting a filtering stations for crude oil and fuel sale points with two raids five minutes apart. A Russian MIG, white in colour, flew at low altitude. The first raid coincided with regime helicopters flying south to Deir Ezzor and the second raid coincided with the return of another helicopter coming from Deir Ezzor heading north. The two raids and the helicopters flying coincided with coalition planes flying in the skies of the area.”

The Syrian Network for Human Rights also blamed Russia, alleging that its warplanes launched six rockets on a civilians’ gathering point for selling crude oil. The put the death toll at nine with 15 others wounded.

Some of the victims were named by the Violations Documentation Center including one Unidentified – adult male from Raqqa. Three more civilian bodies were recovered from the scene on February 1st.

In their February 2020 civilian casualty report, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area at that time.