Geolocation
Airwars assessment
As many as 20 civilians were killed, and others were wounded, according to reports, following an alleged Russian and or Coalition airstrike on a militant-occupied building in the Al-Arba’een Mountains.
Shaam News reported that seven civilians died including “four children and three women in addition in addition to others wounded.”
Step News blamed the US-led Coalition, reporting that “International Coalition aircraft launched several air strikes this afternoon targeting a residential building belonging to Turkestan fighters in Al-Arba’een Mountain area in the outskirts of Ariha in western Idlib.”
This led to the complete collapse of the building, allegedly killing more than ten people in an initial toll which included women and children from Turkestan families who were in the building.
Members of the civil defense team were allegedly digging civilians out of the rubble hours after the incident.
Similarly, AlAmawi news said that “Coalition planes launched several raids at noon today targeting al Turkistan HQ in al Araba’een mountain”.
In addition, Syrian media activist Omar madaniah said that the Coalition “bombed a building in al Arba’een mountain housing Turkistani families,” leaving “more than 20 martyrs under the rubble”.
Almasdar reported that Russian jets struck “a six-story building inhabited by Turkestan militants who used it as HQ – which also housed their families leading to the total collapse of the building.”
According to sources the extent of the damage to residential homes was great, and many civilians remained trapped under the rubble for hours.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (18) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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A victim in the aftermath of an alleged Russian and Coalition airstrikes on Al-Arba'een Mountain, 12th January 2017. (via @MousaAlomar)
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:
Original strike reports
For January 11th-13th the Coalition did not publicly note any strikes in Idlib governorate.