Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Two civilians died and up to eight others were reported injured in an alleged Coalition airstrike on a conserves factory and surrounding homes in Al Mayadeen, according to local sources.
The Syrian Observatory reported: “Four European warplanes of the international coalition targeted a conserves factory which was already destroyed and deserted in al-Mayadeen city east of Deir Ezzor province. They carried out 11 consecutive raids followed by a raid targeting a vehicle belonging to Islamic State and carrying a heavy machine gun which was targeting the warplanes. The strike destroyed the vehicle and killed two members of IS, in addition to a civilian who happened to be there. Seven others were also injured.” A young girl named as Alaa Hafez Hussein al Said also later died of injuries sustained in the raid.
In July 2019, the Coalition announced that it had assessed this allegation of civilian harm to be non-credible. Their monthly civilian casualty report noted “After a review of all available records it was determined that, more likely than not, civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition action.”
Syria News Desk also attributed the event to the Coalition, reporting that four raids on the conserves factory and “residential sites adjacent to it… led to the killing and wounding of an unknown number of IS members.”
It added that there was widespread destruction of the factory as well as “great destruction of four homes near Al Quds mosque and al Nadi roundabout south of al Mayadeen.”
Al Sharqiya voice, a news outlet covering the east of the country, also said that the Coalition was to blame for the raid – but they said there were no civilian fatalities (only a few injuries), adding that members of IS were killed and wounded.
Al Raed La Yakzub Ahlahu, an ISIS propaganda source, said American fighter jets “launched several missiles and machine gun fire in the centre of al Mayadeen in the Deir Ezzor countryside which led to the death of a resident of the area and the injury of two others”. The source appeared to be the IS propaganda website Al A’amaq.
Al Bousla – a pro-regime source – said that the strike by “warplanes” killed the “terrorist Abu Abdallal Al Saoudi and 17 foreigners” – implying that they were members of IS.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Mayadin (ميادين), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.016667, 40.444167. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (15) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (5) [ collapse]
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Aftermath of the air strike (via Al Sharqiya voice)
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Aftermath of the air strike (via Euphrates Post)
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Aftermath of the air strike (via Euphrates Post)
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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Jan. 14, 2017, in Al Mayadeen, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was determined that, more likely than not, civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition action.
Original strike reports
For January 13th-14th, the Coalition publicly reported: ” Near Dayr Ar Zawr, two strikes destroyed three oil wellheads”.