Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Three unnamed civilian males were reported killed in a Turkish (or less likely Coalition) action at al Bab. The Coalition later denied responsibility.
According to Step News, “Turkish planes targeted al Bab, east of Aleppo, with three raids and there are news about casualties.” VDC later reported three unidentfied male civilian deaths – though said these were a result of actions by “International Coalition forces.”
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’ with “no Coalition strikes conducted in the geographical area of the reported civilian casualties.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (5) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ 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 16th-18th 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.