Geolocation
Airwars assessment
According to sources on the ground, a family of five civilians was killed “by artillery shelling of SDF” on their house in the town of Al Soussa.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the family consisted of three children and their parents who were all killed. The Network dated the incident to January 9th, whereas other sources dated it January 10th.
Additional civilians were also reported wounded, but few further details were given. Horriya said that some were in a critical condition.
Although it was alleged that SDF artillery had been responsible for the casualties, Airwars understands that only the US-led Coalition had access to field artillery at the time in this vicinity. This is therefore classed by us as a potential Coalition civilian harm event.
In its January 2021 monthly civilian casualty report, the US-led Coalition determined this event to be ‘non credible’, asserting: “After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Soussa (السوسة), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.528889, 40.9675. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (6) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Jan. 10, 2019, in Al Soussa, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 3262/CS1884 37SFU805225
Original strike reports
Between Dec. 30, 2018 and Jan. 12, 2019, CJTF-OIR conducted 575 strikes consisting of 1,147 engagements in
Syria.
In Syria, 575 strikes engaged 485 ISIS tactical units, and destroyed 308 staging areas, 220 fighting positions, 105
mortar, rocket and artillery systems, 57 supply routes, 50 manufacturing facilities for improvised explosive device
and vehicle borne improvised explosive device, 31 command and control nodes, 26 vehicles, 19 weapons caches,
18 mortar launching sites, 18 petroleum oil and lubricant storage facilities, 11 heavy and light weapon systems,
eight reservoirs and tankers for petroleum oil and lubricants, eight pieces of heavy equipment, seven vehicle borne
improvised explosive devices, six tunnels and caves, four buildings, two unmanned aircraft systems, one weapons
facility, one logistics hub and one fuel storage.