Geolocation
Airwars assessment
The Smart news agency reported that likely Coalition airstrikes targeted the oil refinery area of Al Mansoura, “killing one worker and injuring others, in addition to destroying three burners and a car used to transport oil.”
Madar News used identical language in its own report.
No additional details are presently known.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Al Mansoura (المنصورة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.83917, 38.74288. 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 15th – 16th: “Near Ar Raqqah, 13 strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, an IED, a weapons storage facility, a storage facility, a VBIED facility, a UAV facility, a logistics facility, and an ammunition cache.” For March 16th – 17th: “Near Ar Raqqah, eight strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, a vehicle, an ISIS-held building, and an oil refinement still.”
For March 16th-17th: "Near Ar Raqqah, eight strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, a vehicle, an ISIS-held building, and an oil refinement still."