Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Between eleven and 15 civilians were reported killed in a Turkish (or less likely Coalition) action at al Bab.
According to LCCSY eleven civilians died, “most of them killed in Coalition raids on al Bab.”However, the source had consistently denied civilian harm from Turkish actions during the al-Bab campaign.
Al Bab News reported “more than 15 dead most of them women and children and dozens injured as a result of the bombardment on al Bab yesterday. There are families still under the rubble and the rescue operations are underway.”
However ISIS’s media wing reported “intense raids with more than 15 Turkish air raids and 180 shells falling on al Bab in the Aleppo countryside since dawn today.” And the Syrian Observatory reported that “Turkish warplanes bombed areas on the outskirts of al-Bab city which is under the control of the “Islamic State” northeast of Aleppo province, amid clashes in several places in the area between members of the organisation against the factions of Euphrates Shield supported by Turkish forces, which caused casualties.”
The Syrian Network suggested Free Syrian Army (FSA) or Turkish artillery may also have been responsible: “Three civilians from the same family including a child died in Der’ Al Furat forces, supported by Turkish forces, artillery fired shells on Al Bab city in Aleppo governorate eastern suburbs, December 16, 2016.”
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 for Coalition caused civcas.’
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (7) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]
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 15th-17th 2016 the Coalition has publicly reported no strikes in the vicinity.
For December 14th to 20th, France reports 10 strikes: 8 in Iraq – 7 of which were in Mosul – and 2 in Syria. They reported that 16 targets were destroyed.
#Chammal : 10 frappes contre Daech en Irak et en Syrie cette semaine, 16 objectifs détruits.