Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Four civilians died and ten were reported injured in a claimed Coalition aerial attack on Ratla village, according to a single source.
Smart News reported that “A local source told Smart the bombing targeted the village of Ratla, killing four civilians and wounding ten others, without details of the cases of the wounded and the hospitals that were transferred to them.” Micro Syria repeated the same allegation.
The report coincided with a major aerial assault on the area around al Tabaqa Dam by SDF and Coalition forces.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Ratlah (رطلة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.882222, 39.048611. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ 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 22nd-23rd: “Near Ar Raqqah, eight strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed two tactical vehicles, a fighting position, and a heavy transport equipment piece; and damaged four supply routes.”