(Previous Incident Code: S1687)

A Coalition airstrike hit the Al-Zawiya Mosque in Hajin – the fourth reported airstrike on a mosque carried out by the Coalition in the governorate of Deir Ezzor in less than a week.

Local sources claimed that at least 7 and up to 16 civilians died in this attack. Free Deir Ezzor said that there were reports of “several civilian deaths” after “international coalition aircraft committed a new massacre by targeting Al Zawiya mosque in Hajin”.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 16 people were killed, of whom 7 were civilians and 9 were members of ISIS.

Step News Agency put the civilian death toll at 8 and Sound and Picture at nine.
According to Syrian Unified Observatory, “16 people” died with “dozens more wounded”. This source also attributed the event to the Coalition.

The Coalition’s chief spokesman confirmed a strike on a mosque on the same day, though placed the event at either al Shaafa or al Soussa – noting in a tweet that “#ISIS continues to launch attacks from mosques. They have no regard for innocent lives and protected sites. The Coalition conducted a strike today on an ISIS fighting position in Ash Shafa mosque. The MERV will be liberated soon by #SDF”.

Hajin magazine provided some context on the recent mosque strikes: “People inside Hajin and the villages under the control of Daesh have unfortunately become the target of planes while they’re in mosques. The reason for this is that those dogs and pigs of Daesh are using mosques as headquarters. We ask you as far as possible to stay away from them. God save us from Daesh.”