Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Four civilians including three brothers – along with two ISIL fighters – were reported killed in an alleged Coalition air raid on al Abbara.
Syria News Desk said that “Four civilians and two members of Islamic state were killed and others were injured this afternoon, due to international coalition raids targeting with four raids the village of Al A’bbara under the control of ISIL in the countryside of northern Raqqa.”
According to Smart news, seven civilians were also injured in the attack.
Syrian PC has named three of the dead, all from the same family.
In an emailed response to a report submitted by Airwars on this and other incidents in December 2016, Coalition officials said the event had been submitted “for further review.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of `Abbarah (العبارة), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.1553406, 39.0213776. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (16) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]
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Ahmad Sharif al Sakhir and his brother Hussein Sharif al Sakhir (via Raqqa is Being Slaughtered)
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Mouayed Ibrahim al Sakhir (via RBSS)
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 there is insufficient evidence to find civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For December 5th-6th 2016, the Coalition reported that “Near Ar Raqqah, three strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units and destroyed a fighting position.”