Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to 24 civilians died in an airstrike on Al Jarthi town, local media reported – though it was unclear whether the Coalition, Russia or the Syrian regime were responsible. The majority of sources, however, attributed the event to Moscow.
According to Al Haal, “Abu Hassan al-Khalifa (a resident of the town) told al-Hal, that the Russian warplanes targeted the two towns of Al Jarthi Al Sharqi [Eastern] and Al Jarthi al Gharbi [Western], with more than 9 raids, killing 17 civilians, mostly women and children, wounding more than 20 others.”
Al Jisr TV, citing local sources, reported that “[Russian] fighters targeted with rockets a residential complex, and then returned to target a car that tried to aid the wounded”.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights was alone in blaming the Coalition, putting the number killed at “at least 7 civilians, including 2 children and a woman”.
According to the Euphrates Post, “there were more than 15 martyrs and a number of wounded as a result of military aircraft targeting the town of al-Jarthi al-Sharqi [al Jarthi East]. A van carrying civilians in Al Jarthi al Gharbi [al Jarthi West] was struck last night [Dec 5th]. Most of the victims are from the town of al-Duyer, including the family of Ali al-Shakil al-Hamad. The father, son and grandfather died, in addition to three people from al Jarthi itself.
Step News Agency blamed Russia, initially putting the death toll at 14. It later said that the number killed had risen to 23, of which 13 were from one family. It added that “dozens more” were injured.
The Syrian Observatory also pointed towards Russia, initially reporting that 14 people died including six children and women, with 10 more wounded, “during Russia’s support of operations by the SDF east of the Euphrates River”. A further report by the Observatory said that the death toll had risen to 24, of which 10 were children and four were women.
The Smart News Agency also said that the strikes were “likely” Russian.
Qasioun appeared to blame the regime, putting the death toll at 20 with another 30 wounded.
On March 10, 2022 in the CJTF-OIR Civilian Casualty Report, the Coalition reported this incident to be “non-credible”, stating that “After review of all available evidence it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
Family members (1)
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (20) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]
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The aftermath of an airstrike on Al Jarthi town, Dec 5th (via Euphrates Post)
Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention a building in the village of Al Jarthi al Sharqi (الجردي الشرقي), for which the coordinates are: 34.8687930, 40.6480229. Satellite imagery analysis geolocated the image of a destroyed house posted on social media by Euphrates Post. Before (Dec. 03, 2017) and after (Dec. 26, 2017) images showed visible structural damage. Airwars does not have the rights to publish the images. The exact coordinates for the destroyed building are 34.884892, 40.635273. Further evidence of this can be seen in a separate video posted on Twitter by @Al_sharqnews
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Dec. 5, 2017, near al-Jarthi, Syria, via Airwars report. After review of all available evidence it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike. 2554/S1488 37SFU494361498
Original strike reports
For December 4th-5th, the Coalition reported: “Near Abu Kamal, one strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS fighting position.”
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
The Russian Ministry of Defence announced being active in unspecified parts of Syria until December 11th, 2017.