Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A reported drone strike at al Tabaqa “led to the martyrdom of Ibrahim Mahmoud al Said and the injury of a woman and two children,” according to Raqqa is Being Slaughtered. ISIL claimed the drone was American. VDC also named the victim, though said the aircraft as ‘unidentified’.
The Syrian Network reported that “Fixed-wing international coalition forces warplanes fired missiles that targeted Al Tabaqa city, located in the western suburbs of Al Raqqa and is under the control of ISIS, which resulted in the killing of Mr. Ibrahim Ismail Mahmoud Al Saeed.”
In its February 2017 civilian casualty report, the Coalition said it was assessing the incident: “Currently, 10 reports of civilian casualties are still being assessed: 2: Sept. 17, 2016, near Al Tabqah, Syria, via self-report.” In June, the Coalition denied any casualties: “Sept. 17, 2016, near Al Tabqah, Syria, via self-report: After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that no civilians were harmed in this strike.”
Due to the multiple reports and named victim associated with this event, Airwars continues to class ths incident as likely.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (10) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
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So-called islamic State blamed "an Ammerican drone" for a strike on September 17th 2016 which reportedly killed one civilian
Attached to this civilian harm incident is a provisional reconciliation of the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, based on matching date and locational information.
The declassified documents were obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, and are included alongside the corresponding press release published by the Pentagon. Airwars is currently analysing the contents of each file, and will update our own assessments accordingly.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that no civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For September 16th-17th 2016, the Coalition reported that “Near Ar Raqqah, two strikes destroyed an ISIL training compound, an oil well head, an oil pump jack, and two oil storage tanks.”
‘Saturday 17 September – a Reaper took part in a coalition air attack in eastern Syria that was alleged to have struck Syrian regime forces by mistake. Another Reaper provided close air support to Iraqi troops near Qayyarah… On Saturday 17 September, a Reaper joined other coalition aircraft in a strike against a reported Daesh position south of Dayr az Zawr in Syria, but this was later alleged to have in fact been a position held by Syrian regime forces; a detailed investigation into the incident is being conducted by the coalition.