Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Between three and ten civilians died in an alleged Coalition airstrike at noon on Sabkha, according to local media.
Baladi blamed the Coalition and put the death toll at three. According to Alrafed, more than ten non-combatants died, though the source didn’t identify the warplanes responsible. Alaraby, RFS, Shaam News Network and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights all attributed the incident to the Coalition. Syriapost1 said that in addition to the three killed, three others were wounded.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Sabka (السبخة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.810278, 39.263889. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (14) [ 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. (1048)
Original strike reports
For March 23rd-24th: “Near Ar Raqqah, 22 strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units; destroyed seven fighting positions, five vehicles, three IEDS, two tunnels, and a VBIED; damaged five supply routes and a bridge; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.”