Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1921

Incident date

June 30, 2019

Location

ريف المهندسين الأول, Rif Al Mouhandessen Al Awal, Aleppo, Syria

Geolocation

36.094532, 36.961419 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Exact location (via Airwars) level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A confirmed Coalition strike with high-explosive missiles against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on the afternoon of June 30th is also locally reported to have injured at least two children and two women, and killed a number of foreign AQ-linked fighters. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that the strike was carried out at 4.20 pm, exactly.

According to Step news, a total of seven injured people were evacuated including the two children and two women, in addition to the bodies of three men. Step News added in a later post that the number of casualties had risen to eleven people but did specify the number of dead or wounded or their combatant status.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights initially reported that eight commanders and fighters were killed but in a later post added that the number had risen to nine. According the source, the victims included two Algerians, two Tunisians, one Egyptian and a Syrian commander in addition to 14 wounded who attended a meeting when the building they were in was struck with rocket shelling. The source added that it wasn’t clear whether the shelling was carried out by the International Coalition or by Russian missiles.

Alarabiya reported: “The US-led coalition said Monday its jets carried out strikes in northwest Syria a day earlier that a monitor reported had killed eight extremists, including commanders, from an al-Qaeda-linked group.

‘This operation targeted AQ-S operatives responsible for plotting external attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,’ US Central Command said in a statement, using an acronym for Al-Qaeda in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, earlier said six commanders were among the slain extremists from the Hurras al-Deen group.”

Among those killed militants were Abu Omar, Tunisian, and Abu Dujana, Algerian, leaders of the organization according to Mena Monitor. @jalaysalshuhada reported that Abu Omar was a Tunisian member of the Shura Council and a judge in the internal judiciary of the organization.

Mena Monitor added that among the wounded militants were Abu Yahya al-Masri and Abu Dhar al-Masri.

On March 10, 2022 in the CJTF-OIR Civilian Casualty Report, the Coalition reported this incident to be “non-credible”, stating that “After review of all available evidence it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.”

The incident occured in the afternoon.

Geolocation notes

Coordinates released by the Coalition place the event at 36.09453, 36.96142

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    0 – 11
  • Civilians reported injured
    4–7
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Russian Military
  • Suspected target
    Al Qaeda/HTS
  • Belligerents reported killed
    3–9
  • Belligerents reported injured
    8–14

Sources (23) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]

  • A building was struck by a confirmed Coalition strike against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on June 30th (via Step News).
  • A building was struck by a confirmed Coalition strike against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on June 30th (via Step News).
  • A building was struck by a confirmed Coalition strike against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on June 30th (via Step News).
  • A building was struck by a confirmed Coalition strike against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on June 30th (via Step News).
  • A building was struck by a confirmed Coalition strike against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on June 30th (via Syria live ua).
  • A building was struck by a confirmed Coalition strike against Al Qaeda at Rif Al Mouhandessen near Aleppo on June 30th (via Syria live ua).
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Abu Omar, Tunisian member of the Shura Council and a judge in the internal judiciary of extremist organization "Horras Al Din", was alleged killed in a Coalition strike in Aleppo on June 30th (via @jalaysalshuhada).
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Video showing bodies of stuck under the rubble caused by a Coalition strike in Aleppo on June 30th (via @jalaysalshuhada).

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Open incident
  • Stated location
    near Aleppo, Syria
    Nearest population center
  • Location accuracy
    1 m
  • MGRS coordinate
    37SCV1647596357
    Military Grid Reference System

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Mar 10, 2022
  • Jun. 30, 2019, near Aleppo, Syria, via Airwars report. After review of all available evidence it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike. 3218/CS1921 37SCV1647596357

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    0 – 11
  • Civilians reported injured
    4–7
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Russian Military
  • Suspected target
    Al Qaeda/HTS
  • Belligerents reported killed
    3–9
  • Belligerents reported injured
    8–14

Sources (23) [ collapse]