Airwars assessment
One civilian was reported killed on May 1st, 2020 allegedly by a sniper bullet fired at him by the American troops in Koniko oil field in Deir Ezzor or by YPG/QSD members who guard the oil field as local sources said.
The victim who worked as a teacher in Raqqa city was identified as Yasser Al-Asman. (Yasser Muhammad Al Aslan/Al-Osman as other variations of the name).
SMART Agency reported that the victim “was heading on the main road from the countryside of Deir Ezzor Al-Sharqi to Raqqa, but his car veered off the road towards the [oil] field, by mistake, which drove the American forces to kill him instantly.”
SMART also said that YPG members transported his body to to the Hospital of Jadid Bakar village in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and asked the hospital staff to communicate with his relatives to receive his body.
On a different story of how the civilian was killed, Shaam News reported that he was first shot by the guards of the oil field who belong to YPG/QSD as he took the wrong road, and afterwards a US led-coalition warplane targeted his car and burned it completely.
However, Suriye.u.a.d didn’t specify who was responsible but reported “the death of the civilian Yasser Muhammad Aslan with a sniper bullet from the American base in the Koniko oil field, northeast of Deir Ezzor.”
In the second of their September 2020 civilian casualty reports, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area at that time.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
- Yasser Al Asman Adult male Other sources named the victim (Yasser Muhammad Al Aslan) killed
Summary
Sources (3) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck in the vicinity of the Koniko Oil Fields (حقل كونيكو النفطي), in the east of Deir Ezzor (دير الزور). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for the oil field are: 35.341858, 40.319093.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
-
May 1, 2020, near the Koniko Oil Fields, 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. 3131/CS1944 37SFV198117