Geolocation
Airwars assessment
One person was reported killed in an alleged Coalition strike on al Qata – though it was not clear whether they were a civilian or a combatant.
According to the Syrian Observatory, “warplanes believed to be affiliated to the International coalition targeted places in the desert of the town of Qata eastern Deir Ezzor, which resulted in the death of at least one person.”
On March 4th the Coalition said it was assessing an event “near Dayr Az Zayr, Syria, via self-report.” Two months later officials confirmed that “that one civilian was unintentionally killed when he entered the target area after the munition was released.” The provided location – 37SFU 42967 39806 – lies equidistant between al Qata and Sbeikhan and it is our present assessment that these are most likely the same event.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
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 that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For January 30th-31st the Coalition stated: “Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed 10 oil drums, two oil storage tanks and an oil wellhead.“