Between midnight and 5 am on the morning of April 13th five people were reportedly killed in what was described as a “landing operation” by the US-led Coalition in Al-Takihi village. According to Jisir TV, the operation was carried out by several Apache helicopters and Hummer vehicles. It was, however, unclear who killed the victims (whose combat status was uncertain). Some sources blamed the Coalition, while the Syrian Network for Human Rights said that the victims were shot by the SDF.

Al Masdar reported that “during the raid, the U.S. military came under heavy gunfire from the suspected Islamic State fighters inside the home” but that “eventually, the U.S. military was able to overwhelm them, killing five suspects, including one woman.”

It is unclear at this time whether all the victims were members of ISIS or not. The house reportedly belonged to a member of ISIS, who was hiding inside. Among the victims were two former ISIS members who, according to Deir Ezzor 24, had “defected” several months ago. The two victims were brothers of the house owner, according to local sources.

Two other men and a woman with Iraqi nationality were reported killed as well.  Local news outlets Baladi and Jorf claimed these three were also members of ISIS. Considering that ISIS does not recruit women, she is considered a non-combatant and will therefore be included in the civilian casualty count of Airwars.

Step News added that eight others were wounded.

A number of people were also reported arrested. According to Step News, the father of the two brothers was arrested. Jisir TV added that his other son Ra’ed was arrested as well. According to Al Masdar, however, the “U.S. military” arrested eight of the suspects, who the source reported “of Iraqi and Syrian descent”. The eight arrested people could have been among the eight wounded.

However, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that the victims were killed by the SDF. The Network reported: “Five civilians, including a woman, were shot dead by Syrian Democratic forces supported by a helicopter of International Coalition forces in a raid on a house in al Takehi village which is administratively a part of al Bseira city in Deir Ez-Zour governorate eastern suburbs, on April 13.”

On March 10, 2022 in the CJTF-OIR Civilian Casualty Report, the Coalition reported this incident to be “non-credible”, stating that “This allegation was closed due to a lack of corroborating Coalition strikes at the time and location of the alleged incident.”

The incident occured between 12:00 am and 5:00 am local time.