Airwars assessment
One child died in an airstrike on Makta’a Hajar in Manbij, according to local sources – though reports were conflicted as to whether the US-led Coalition or the Assad regime was responsible.
The Violations Documentation Center named a child, Fatima Mohammad al Hamada, as a victim of coalition raids in Manbij. According to the activist, Razona, “Dr. Mohammad al Hamada went to tend to the wounded only to find his daughter Fatima who he hadn’t seen in 9 months dead. It happened and it happens in Syria.” Aleppo 24 also pointed towards the Coalition. However, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, who also named 11-year-old Fatima, said that she was killed in “regime shelling”.
Moua’th also blamed the regime for her death.
Manbij Direct added some more detail, reporting that Fatima was “killed while she was going to Manbij with her family [being smuggled out] in an air raid near al Mikta’a village. The raid happened about an hour and a half ago. [would be around 7:30 pm].” The source didn’t identify the culprit.
Al Quds al Arabi blamed the regime for the girl’s death, and provided considerable background information: “The doctor and poet Mohammed Hamada, who has worked in a number of field hospitals in the countryside of Aleppo, and has played a prominent role in the treatment of victims of bombing in the towns and the countryside in Aleppo over six years, received a call to join one of the hospitals in the countryside of Manbej, after bombing was carried out by the Syrian regime aircraft. He was surprised that the girl in question was his daughter Fatima.
“The doctor’s family lives in Abu Kahalf, south of Manbej, which is controlled by the organization [Islamic state]. The doctor had left the town many months ago, and it seems that the family decided to get out of the town and go to areas outside the control of the organization. According to locals, regime planes launched raids near the town of Makta’a Hajar while the family was passing by there – this led to the injury of the child, and then to her death, after attempts to save her had failed.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (9) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
-
Fatima Mohammad Ibrahim al Hamada (via SNHR)
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
The Coalition did not publicly report any strikes nears Manbij for February 24th-26th.