Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Multiple sources reported that Turkey carried out airstrikes on SDF positions in Tal Hamees, South of al Qamishli. However, other outlets also stated that this was not the case and that the US-led Coalition conducted strikes on homes which reportedly held family members of ISIS. However, no casualty estimates were given.
The Shaam News Network, citing activists, said that Turkish aircraft targeted the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the area of Tal Hamis and at the Umm al-Russ station southeast of the city of Qamishli.
Syria al hadath added: Turkish planes targeted locations of the Kurdish units at the Umm al-Rouss station in the west of Tal Hamis, in the north-eastern countryside of Al-Hasakah.
Al Hasaka Youth Union Facebook page posted: Turkish aircraft target the positions of the militia PYD in the area Tel_hamis southeast of Qamishli but later corrected themselves, stating that it was, in fact, a Coalition airstrike. The source also ambivalently reported that the strike targeted homes of Iraqi refugees with the claims that IS elements were present there.
Shaam Network also reported it as a Turkish airstrike while Baladi News blamed the Coalition. The source added that homes were targeted because there were claims that there were ISIS militants present.
Baladi said: Local sources from the region said that an aerial landing of the International Coalition, carried out by a helicopter accompanied by two other aircraft, on the area of agricultural projects, pointing out that it targeted two homes inhabited by two Iraqi families, who fled earlier to the region.
According to the sources, the operation was carried out at 2 am, followed by loudspeaker calls, saying that they were soldiers from the International Coalition, followed by intermittent firing.
Some sources said that a Turkish air strike targeted the area near the town of Tal Hamis – but these reports could not be verified.
According to Jisr TV, in the north-east of Hasaka, Coalition forces arrested a number of Iraqi refugees in the countryside of Tel Hamis, after the implementation of an aerial landing in the region.
Asia News provided some more detail, adding that three US helicopters carried out an aerial landing targeting a house between the villages of Kalou and al-Jaysi, 2 km south of Tal Hamis district in the south-eastern suburb of Qamishli.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Tal Hamees, South of al Qamishli ( تل حميس), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.754529, 41.398836. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (12) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Original strike reports
There were no reported strikes conducted in Syria or Iraq on March 18, 2018.
Sunday 18 March – a Reaper killed two terrorists on a motorcycle in eastern Syria…On Sunday 18 March, a Reaper tracked a pair of terrorists on a motorcycle south-east of As Shadadi in eastern Syria. It became clear that they were operating as a mobile checkpoint in an attempt to exert control over the local area. The Reaper’s crew waited until the motorcycle was in open country, and despite its high speed, achieved a direct hit with a Hellfire which killed both of the Daesh extremists.