Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Twelve civilians were killed and up to 30 injured at al Bab in what local sources claimed was a ‘Coalition’ strike, but which may have been a result of Turkish-ISIS fighting.
Al A’maq, ISIS’s media wing, reported “12 dead and 30 injured, most of them women and children, following violent Turkish shelling with more than 150 missiles and rockets that fell on al Bab since this morning.” A video (since blocked) also showed a number of children being treated for serious injuries.
Ara News said that “Turkish forces shelled the city of al Bab and Tadef northeast of Aleppo, northern Syria, on Monday, and the shelling targeted civilian neighbourhoods.” The Syrian Observatory also blamed Turkish and Euphrates Shield forces.
However both Halab News and VDC blamed the US-led Coalition – which they may still have viewed Turkey as being an active member of.
Al Bab al Hadath said both Turkish and Coalition planes attacked the city, killing 12 including two families and injuring 20 civilians. In total it named twelve victims:
In an emailed response to a report submitted by Airwars on this and other incidents in December 2016, Coalition officials requested additional information concerning the alleged event.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
Family members (1)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (16) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (17) [ collapse]
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Al Bab following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on December 12th 2016. (via Bab al Hadath)
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One of the victims following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on Al Bab, December 12th 2016. (via Al Bab al Hadath) -
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One of the victims following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on Al Bab, December 12th 2016. (via Al Bab al Hadath) -
Al Bab following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on December 12th 2016. (via Bab al Hadath)
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Al Bab following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on December 12th 2016. (via Bab al Hadath)
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Al Bab following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on December 12th 2016. (via Bab al Hadath)
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Al Bab following reported Turkish or Coalition strikes on December 12th 2016. (via Bab al Hadath)
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Photo of child being treated in hospital following alleged Turkish and Coalition raids on al Bab, 12th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban) -
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Photo of a child victim in hospital following an alleged Turkish and Coalition raid on al Bab, 16th December 2016. )via Khaled Shaban) -
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Photo of a child victims in hospital following an alleged Turkish and Coalition raid on al Bab, 16th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban) -
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Photo of a male civilian casualty killed following an alleged Turkish and Coalition raid on al Bab, 16th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban) -
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Injured children being treated in hospital following alleged Turkish and Coalition raids on al Bab, 12th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban) -
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Photo of child being treated in hospital following alleged Turkish and Coalition raids on al Bab, 12th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban) -
Photo of child being transported to hospital following alleged Turkish and Coalition raids on al Bab, 12th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban)
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Injured children being treated in hospital following alleged Turkish and Coalition raids on al Bab, 12th December 2016. (via Khaled Shaban)
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Damaged building in the aftermath of the alleged raid on Al Bab, 12th November 2016. (via Halab today)
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Damaged building in the aftermath of the alleged raid on Al Bab, 12th November 2016. (via Al Bab al Hadath facebook)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al-Bab (الباب), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.371972, 37.51631. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
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 December 11th-13th 2016 the Coalition publicly reported no strikes in the vicinity of al Bab.