Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS1983

Incident date

September 20, 2022

Location

قرية البيدر, Al Baydar in Al Karama village, Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

35.859327, 39.310004 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Two civilians, a man and his minor son, were killed and another man, who is alleged to be a civilian or a member of ISIS, was injured during an airdrop operation carried out by the Coalition and the SDF in the village of Al Baydar on September 20, 2022.

According to the Euphrates Post, Muhammad Al-Shalash and his son Abadi Al-Shalash were killed during a raid carried out by the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) along with the Coalition in the village of Al Baydar.

Eye of Euphrates added that the father and son were shot when the American forces and the SDF were trying to arrest a displaced person from the countryside of Aleppo and residing in the village who had fled to the home of the Al-Shalash family and was firing at the raiding forces. The correspondent added that a third civilian was wounded by a bullet and taken to the hospital and that the intended person was arrested during the raid.

@AlkneterOthman tweeted that the wounded person is the other son of Muhammad and Baladi News provided the name of the wounded son as Muhammad Al-Shalash, detailing that he was taken to Raqqa hospital for treatment of his injuries. According to Nedaa Post, the wounded son Muhammad was the intended person to be arrested and was arrested on charges of “working in the ranks of ISIS cells in the area”. The three men had only been in the area for ten days and were displaced from a village in northern Aleppo.

Shaam News disputed that the injured person was a member of ISIS, referring to him as a civilian, and reporting that the SDF “raided the house because it received information about the names of wanted persons, who are relatives of the owner of the house that they raided, but instead of raiding the house of the wanted persons, they mistakenly raided another house.”

@DeirEzzore identified Abadi, the son that was killed, as being a minor, and reported that the raid occurred at approximately 3:30 in the morning. @DeirEzzore added that the father and son were from “the Al-Bureij clan – Al-Aliat”.

All of the sources referred to the incident as a joint operation between the SDF and Coalition, with some sources blaming the shooting on the SDF while others attributed the shooting to the Coalition.

The incident occured at approximately 3:30 am local time.

The victims were named as:

Family members (2)

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Baydar (البيدر), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.859327, 39.310004. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Counter-Terrorism Action (Ground)
  • Infrastructure
    IDP or Refugee Camp
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2
  • (1 child1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    0–1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Small arms and light weapons
  • 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
    ISIS
  • Belligerents reported injured
    0–1

Sources (12) [ collapse]

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
    Counter-Terrorism Action (Ground)
  • Infrastructure
    IDP or Refugee Camp
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2
  • (1 child1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    0–1
  • Cause of injury / death
    Small arms and light weapons
  • 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
    ISIS
  • Belligerents reported injured
    0–1

Sources (12) [ collapse]