Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Three named civilians died and others were wounded in Hajeen, according to local media. It is unclear whether the Coalition or the regime were responsible for the deaths.
It said they had died “as a result of military air strikes believed to belong to the International Alliance this afternoon which targeted the market at Hajeen near the Great Mosque and the vicinity of the castle and near the municipality [were struck]. Artillery shelling by the regime forces was also recorded on the city today”.
Smart and Al Arabi al Jadid also blamed the Coalition, as did the Syrian Network for Human Rights which said that a girl was included in the three people killed. SN4HR said that the strike was on a market in the centre of the town.
According to DE24, “air shelling by Assad’s forces” killed Saleh Al Thamer, Hassan Al Malali and Sudi Dibis Al Mahmoud Al A’jeel.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at three and blamed “warplanes”.
The incident was first reported on December 14, 2017 at 8:00 am by .
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (14) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Hajeen (هجين), for which the coordinates are: 34.6897222, 40.83. According to a source the strike targeted a market near the great mosque “in the vicinity of the castle and the municipality”. Due to limited information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location of the castle, however, we believe the great mosque possibly refers to the mosque at these coordinates: 34.693286, 40.825818. Footage of the immediate aftermath is taken in full daylight, we estimate that the incident possibly occurred between 6:30 am (sunrise) and 8 am.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties
Original strike reports
For December 13th-14th , the Coalition reported: “Near Abu Kamal, nine strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units and destroyed three ISIS vehicles and an ISIS headquarters.”