Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least one and as many as 20 civilians including an unspecified number of women and children died in an alleged Coalition airstrike on the town of Al Shaafa, which was under the control of ISIS, according to local media.
Several local sources including Euphrates Post reported that “a number of civilian died” in the airstrike. @DeirEzzor24 put the death toll as low as one civilian and reported that dozens more were injured. The Syrian Network said that three had died.
However, Horrya said that as many as 10 civilians were killed. Baladi News, the Syrian Unified Observatory and @Mrskurai reported the deaths of 20 civilians in Al Shaafa and Hajin combined.
According to Al Shaafa Official, the raid in in Al Shaafa killed a “number of civilians”, one of who was named as Bader Al-Zaghir, who is from an area or a tribe called “Saad”.
Multiple sources stated that “most” of the victims were women and children.
The Step News Agency added that an unspecified number of “Daesh elements” had also been killed in strikes on Al Shaafa, Al Soussa and Hajin.
In its October 2020 monthly civilian casualty review, the US-led Coalition classed this event as ‘non credible’, asserting that “This report contains insufficient information on time, location, or details to assess its credibility.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Sha’afa (الشعفة), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.57888, 40.93441. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (15) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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4. Oct. 28, 2018, in al Shaafa, Syria, via Airwars report. This report contains insufficient information on time, location, or details to assess its credibility. 3226/CS1819 37SFU774280
Original strike reports
For October 28th 2018 the Coalition publicly reported “Near Hajin, eight strikes engaged two tactical units, and destroyed one supply route, two vehicles, one command and control center, one mortar, one explosive manufacturing facility, one compound and one staging area."
Sunday 28 October – a Reaper attacked a group of terrorists caught in the open in eastern Syria, whilst Typhoons collapsed the entrance to a cave containing stockpiled weapons in northern Iraq…On Sunday 28 October, a Reaper conducted armed reconnaissance over the Abu Kamal area, and carried out a successful attack with a Hellfire missile, striking a group of terrorists spotted manoeuvring through fields. In northern Iraq, a Daesh stockpile of weapons had been identified in a set of caves on a hillside thirty miles north-west of Kirkuk; a Typhoon flight was able to collapse the entrance to the caves using Paveway IVs.
For Oct 24th-30th, France report that the three CAESAR guns of Task Force Wagram have conducted 6 firing missions from Iraqi territory. Aircraft carried out 18 sorties and four strikes north of Abu Kamal, Syria.
CHAMMAL SITUATION MILITAIRE DU THEATRE Offensive contre les dernières poches de Daech en Syrie L’opération pour reprendre la poche d’Hajine dans la moyenne vallée de l’Euphrate, lancée le 10 septembre, se poursuit. Daech a profité des mauvaises conditions météorologiques pour mener des contre-attaques cette semaine et reprendre du terrain aux forces démocratiques syriennes. Poursuite des actions de sécurisation en Irak En Irak, les opérations de sécurisation des forces de sécurité irakiennes (FSI) se poursuivent. ACTIVITÉ DE LA FORCE Le dispositif français déployé au Levant n’a pas évolué. La Task Force Wagram en appui de l’offensive contre les dernières poches de Daech présentes dans la vallée de l’Euphrate. La Task Force Wagram appuie l’offensive des forces démocratiques syriennes contre Daech dans la région d’Hajine. Les trois canons CAESAR ont ainsi réalisé, depuis le territoire irakien, 6 missions de tir (éclairement, harcèlement, destruction – bilan du 24 au 30 octobre inclus). Depuis le début de son engagement, la Task Force Wagram a réalisé 1998 missions de tirs. Les bases aériennes en Jordanie et aux EAU en appui des opérations Au sein de la coalition, les aéronefs français basés en Jordanie et aux Émirats arabes unis poursuivent leurs actions contre Daech. Cette semaine, les aéronefs de l’opération Chammal ont réalisé 18 sorties aériennes (bilan du 24 au 30 octobre inclus) et conduit 4 frappes, en appui des FDS au nord d’Abou Kamal en Syrie. Bilan total de l’action du pilier appui aérien depuis le 19/09/14 : 8600 sorties / 1476 frappes / 2275 objectifs neutralisés.
For October 24th – 31st, Dutch MoD reports that Dutch F-16s supported ground troops during nine missions. Weapons were deployed in four: near Abu Kamal, Deir Ezzor governorate, Syria and near Mosul, Nineveh province, Iraq. Targets were ISIS warehouses and vehicles.
‘In de strijd tegen terreurorganisatie ISIS ondersteunden Nederlandse F-16’s grondtroepen tijdens 9 missies. Bij 4 zijn wapens ingezet. Een overzicht van Defensieoperaties in de week van 24 tot 31 oktober 2018. Dat gebeurde in de provincies Deir al Zour en Ninawa, in de omgeving van Abu Kamal (Oost-Syrië) en Mosul (Irak). Doelwit waren opslagplaatsen en voertuigen van ISIS.‘