Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Two civilians died and nine others were wounded in artillery or air strikes on Hajeen, according to local media – though it was unclear who was to blame.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that “Awwad Zayed Hussein al Zayed was killed by Syrian regime artillery shells”. The victim was also named by DE24 who blamed the regime, while RSF reported that “Assad’s forces renewed heavy artillery shelling and rocket attacks on the town of Hajin”.
But according to Al Haal, a Coalition strike killed one civilian and wounded a further nine. The Coalition suggested to Airwars in February 2019 that their strike near Hajeen on this day is unlikely to be a match to this incident based on the descriptions. That strike is now recorded as CS1697a.
In April 2019, the Coalition accepted responsibility for this event, noting: “Coalition aircraft conducted a strike on a Daesh operative. Regrettably, one civilian was unintentionally killed and one civilian was unintentionally wounded due to the proximity of the strike.”
Asharq news named an additional victim, Jassim Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Wais, reportedly killed in artillery shelling by “SDF militia”, though Airwars understands that only the Coalition have access to artillery.
The Coalition provided Airwars with the location of this incident, accurate to within a 100 metre box.
The incident was first reported on December 13, 2017 at 6:50 am by .
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (7) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Hajeen (هجين), for which the coordinates are: 34.6897222, 40.83. Prior to the Coalition releasing the MGRS for this incident, Airwars had geolocated it to the nearest town at 34.6897222, 40.83
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Dec. 13, 2017, near Hajin, Syria, via Airwars report. Coalition aircraft conducted a strike on a Daesh operative. Regrettably, one civilian was unintentionally killed and one civilian was unintentionally wounded due to the proximity of the strike.
Original strike reports
For December 12th-13th, the Coalition reported: “Near Abu Kamal, seven strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed two ISIS vehicles and a heavy weapon.”