Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS391

Incident date

November 24, 2016

Location

قرية مراط, Marat, Deir Ezzor, Syria

Geolocation

35.31407, 40.23865 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

In a report which may be confused in part with event CS390 in Maarat, warplanes struck Marat – apparently for the second time in 24 hours – killing up to five civilians.
Free Deir Ezzor Radio reported that “warplanes launch two raids targeting the villages of Marat – the raids were in the same area as the massacre yesterday. Until now there are five martyrs.” The same source also reported that the attack killed “the martyr Yasser Ahmad Thabet al Darwish and four unidentified martyrs who happened to be passing in the high street in Mrat at the time of the raid launched by warplanes noon today.”

The named victim’s details closely resembled those of a reported victim of the previous day’s strike.

Euphrates Post instead reported “one martyr and four wounded some of them in a critical condition after warplanes targeted the house of Ahmad al Darwish this afternoon.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Yasser Ahmad Thabet al Darwish
Age unknown male killed
Name unknown
Age unknown

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Marat (قرية مراط), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.31407, 40.23865. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 5
  • Civilians reported injured
    0–4
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Russian Military

Sources (7) [ collapse]

CJTF–OIR Declassified Assessment and Press Release

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.

Declassified Assessment Press Release

US-led Coalition Assessment:

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

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For November 23rd-24th 2016 the Coalition reported that “Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike engaged an ISIL headquarters building.”
For November 24th-25th it stated: ” Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes destroyed two oil well heads and two oil tanker trucks.”

Russian Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Russian Military
  • Russian Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1 – 5
  • Civilians reported injured
    0–4
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Russian Military

Sources (7) [ collapse]