Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A heavy air raid on Ar Raqqah left up to 36 civilians dead according to multiple reports. While most blamed Russia, there were some claims that the US-led Coalition was responsible. It has since denied involvement.
According to Raqqa is Being Slaughtered, the afternoon raids were concentrated mainly near the city’s al Dalla roundabout. Euphrates Post said the target was the al A’jili building, while Our Raqqa Media Group described “raids near the Odessa hotel and al Dalla roundabout and there’s a massacre and large number of cars and shops burnt.” It also said 60 people were injured.
ISIL’s media wing blamed Russia, saying it had conducted five raids on the city. Step News was among those who initially blamed the Coalition. But it later put out a correction noting “the raid that targeted al Dalla roundabout was by Russian planes and not coalition planes. It resulted in the deaths of more than 15 people and injury of dozens.”
The dead were named by local monitors.
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 (3)
Family members (1)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (58) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (36) [ collapse]
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Destruction at Raqqah December 12th 2016 following a Russian or Coalition raid which killed 21 civilians (via Raqqa is Being Slaughtered)
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Khaled Khalaf al Ali (via RBSS)
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Mohammed and Ibrahim Al-Birawi were both killed in the air strike (via RBSS)
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Mahmoud Qasem al-Falah (via VDC)
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Ibrahim Omar Hamndales (via RBSS)
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Mohammed Noor Al-Firomi (via RBSS)
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Amjad Ahmad Al-Hassoon (via RBSS)
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Sohaib Walid Al-Jassem (via RBSS)
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Taha Al-Nazal (via RBSS)
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Hammoud Qasim AL-Shiban (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Aftermath of the airstrike (via RBSS)
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Abd al Qader Ali al Kawati (via RBSS)
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Sahib Waleed al Jassem (via a comment on a post on RBSS facebook page)
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Majed al Sweiri (via RBSS)
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Abdel Qader al Issa (via RBSS)
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Aya and Judy (via Palmyra media cetnre)
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-12th, the Coalition reported that “Near Ar Raqqah, three strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL chemical weapon facility and an armored vehicle.”
Russian Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any specific strikes between December 1st – 31st 2016.
On 6 January 2017, Russia, however, reported: “Since November 8, 2016, the aircraft carrier group of the Northern Fleet consisting of the heavy aircraft carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy, the large ASW ship Severomorsk, as well as auxiliary vessels of the Black Sea Fleet, has been fulfilling counterterrorist missions on the territory of Syria”, adding that ”in the course of two months of their participation in the combat actions, naval aviation pilots have carried out 420 combat sorties, 117 of them were night ones.”