Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In an incident not previously tracked by Airwars, the Coalition later confirmed the deaths of three civilians in an artillery strike near Sala Heya.
Their December 2016 civilian casualty report noted: “During a strike on an ISIL mortar system, it was assessed that three civilians were inadvertently killed by Coalition counter-battery artillery near the point of origin of an ISIL mortar strike on friendly forces.”
Reports from the day made no mention of the Coalition, instead blaming the Assad regime. Baladi News noted that “Warplane shelling in Sala Heya, Kanamat, Jafar and Mariya in East of Syria killed a civilian and wounded others.” LCCSY reported that “Abdulla Sibhi al-Zaid, from #Jiaa village, was martyred due to targeting #Salhia neighbourhood with airstrikes yesterday.”
A day later Sin News said that 34 ISIL fighters had died in Coalition strikes on the town.
In July 2019 the Coalition provided Airwars with the location for this incident, accurate to within a 100 metre box.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Prior to the Coalition releasing the MGRS for this incident, Airwars had geolocated it to the nearest district at 35.336, 40.145
Summary
Sources (7) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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March 31, 2016, near Sala Heya, Syria: During a strike on an ISIL mortar system, it was assessed that three civilians were inadvertently killed by Coalition counter-battery artillery near the point of origin of an ISIL mortar strike on friendly forces.
Original strike reports
Artillery strikes are not reported as part of daily Coalition press reports.