Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Two children were reported killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike on a tractor at Qaltah. The source appeared to be ISIL media arm Al A’amaq.
Al Jazeera said five civilians in total died – though suggested some of the deaths occured elsewhere. Qassioun stated that “fighter jets of the international coalition launched a massive air raid on the village of Al Kalta in the countryside of northern Raqqa, which resulted in the killing of five civilians and wounded dozens, including women and children.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Qaltah (الكالطة), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.1795231, 39.0142536. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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A still from an Al A'Amaq propaganda video showing the site of a reported Coalition strike at al Kalta which targeted a truck but also killed two children
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 it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area of the reported civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For November 7th-8th, the Coalition reported no strikes near Raqqa but reported “Near Ayn Isa, 15 strikes engaged seven ISIL tactical units, destroyed five fighting positions, three vehicles, two bridges, an artillery system, and damaged three supply routes.”