Airwars assessment
At least thirteen civilians were reported killed and eight injured in either a Turkish or Coalition airstrike on al Bab. The Coalition later denied responsibility.
Al Jazeera – citing ISIS – said two families were among 13 dead civilians after multiple “Turkish airstrikes” on the city. The Syrian Observatory said that “no less than 12 civilians from three families were killed while others were wounded by Turkish airstrikes and bombardment by Turkish forces and al-Furat Shield forces targeted al-Bab city which is taken over by IS, including a man with his wife and 3 of their children in addition to another man from the same family, with his wife and 2 of their children, in addition to 2 children with their mother, the number of the dead is likely to rise.”
Shaam News placed the death toll at 20.
Almost all sources blamed Turkey. However LCCSY (which had claimed Turkey was not killing civilians in its actions in northern Syria) said the US-led Coalition was instead responsible. The Syrian Network also blamed the Coalition.
Halaab News (which blamed the Coalition) named the civilian victims.
In an emailed response to a report submitted by Airwars on this and other incidents in December 2016, Coalition officials said the event was presently assessed as ‘Not Credible.’
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (9)
- Abd al Rahman Na’ssani Adult male killed
- Abd al Rahman Na’ssani's wife Adult female killed
- Sidra Abd al Rahman Na’ssani Child female killed
- Anas Abd al Rahman Na’ssani Child female killed
- Sidal Abd al Rahman Na’ssani Child female
- Malek Na’ssani Adult male killed
- Malek Na’ssani's wife Adult female killed
- Shahida Malik Na’ssani Child female killed
- Al Zafla Nour Malik Na’ssani Adult female killed
- Mohammad Hamad Child male killed
- Fouad Ahmad Child male killed
- Fatima al Nako Adult female killed
Summary
Sources (16) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
Attached to this civilian harm incident is the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, 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
-
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 December 8th-9th 2016, the Coalition publicly reported no strikes in Aleppo governorate.