Airwars assessment
Between five and seven civilians – five from the same family including one or two women and three children – died in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Hamra Ghanem, according to local sources.
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently reported the death of five civilians in a Coalition strike on “the house of Bashir Yusuf Sultan in the village of Hamra Ghanem”.
Smart put the death toll at seven with ten others wounded. JisirTv reported: “Coalition warplanes committed a massacre killing a family of five: mother father and their three children after targeting their house in Hamra Ghanem in the northern countryside of Raqqa. Others were wounded. The main reason for these massacres is that SDF gives the wrong coordinations to the coalition.”
In July 2019 the Coalition announced that it had assessed this allegation of civilian harm to be non-credible. Their monthly civilian casualty report noted “After a review of all available records it was determined that, more likely than not, civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition action.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (6)
- Moaied Bashir Yusuf Sultan killed
- Hassan Bashir Yusuf Sultan killed
- Tharaa Bashir Yusuf Sultan killed
- Ahmed Bashir Yusuf Sultan killed
- The wife of Ahmed Bashir Yusuf Sultan Adult female injured
- Wife of Hassan al – Bashir Adult female injured
- Khadija Sheikh Issa Adult female killed
Summary
Sources (28) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
Attached to this civilian harm incident is the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, 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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Apr. 7, 2017, in Hamra Ghanem, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was determined that, more likely than not, civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition action.
Original strike reports
For April 6th-7th, the Coalition reported: “Near Ar Raqqah, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; and destroyed four fighting positions and a tactical vehicle.”
For April 7th-8th, the Coalition did not report any airstrikes near Ar Raqqah.