Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Two civilians reportedly died and six were injured in an alleged Coalition airstrike on the Al Thani neighbourhood of Al Tabaqa.
The Smart news network reported: “A local source in al Tabaqa city (55 km west of Raqqa), said that the raids affected the second district [Al Thani neighbourhood], killing two civilians and wounding six others”. Smart blamed the Coalition.
Al Ahed also pointed towards the Coalition in a report which was fairly identical to Smarts, though it said that the news came from militant sources.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Tabaqah (الثورة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.8295049, 38.5360909. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (2) [ 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 March 13th-14th: “Near Ar Raqqah, six strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed four fighting positions, an ISIS-held building, and a vehicle; and damaged two supply routes.”
For March 14th-15th: "Near Ar Raqqah, eight strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, two mortar systems, an ammunition cache, an ISIS-held building, and a weapons cache."