Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1954

Incident date

December 30, 2020

Location

الطريق الواصل بين سلقين و بلدة اسقاط, The road between Salqin and Isqat, Idlib, Syria

Geolocation

36.142999, 36.464729 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Street level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Two local sources reported that a civilian was wounded in an alleged US-led Coalition drone strike on a vehicle on the road between the city of Salqin and the town of Isqat in Idlib countryside on December 30th. Two other sources stated that there had been no reports of casualties.

The Syrian Civil Defence reported: “A person was wounded, this afternoon, Wednesday, December 30th, as a result of unidentified aircraft targeting a car on the road between the city of Salqin and the town of Isqat in the northwestern countryside of Idlib.” Shaam News wrote: “A man was wounded when an unidentified aircraft targeted a vehicle on the road between Salqin city and the town of Isqat.”

@IdlibPlus tweeted that the drone belonged to the US-led Coalition, but wrote that there were no casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that there had been no casualties reported thus far in an alleged US-led Coalition drone strike.

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 local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]

Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck on the road connecting the city of Salqin (سلقين) to the town of Isqat (إسقاط). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for a middle point on this road are: 36.142999, 36.464729. Coordinates released by the Coalition place the event at 36.143, 36.46472.

  • Reports of the incident mention a vehicle being struck on the road connecting the city of Salqin (سلقين) to the town of Isqat (إسقاط).

    Imagery:
    Google Earth

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    0–1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (4) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • Vehicle reportedly targeted by alleged US-led Coalition drones on the road between Salqin and Isqat, Idlib, on December 30th, 2020 (via Syrian Civil Defence).
  • Syrian Civil Defence volunteers at the site after alleged US-led Coalition drones on a vehicle on the road between Salqin and Isqat, Idlib, on December 30th, 2020 (via Syrian Civil Defence).

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike, Drone Strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    0–1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • Suspected target
    Unknown

Sources (4) [ collapse]