Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS679

Incident date

April 9, 2017

Location

مزرعة تشرين, Tishreen farm, Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

36.132398, 38.869372 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Local media reported the death of two families in an alleged Coalition airstrike on the Tishreen Farms area.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, four non-combatants including a woman and her child died at the hands of the Coalition. Other sources put the number of dead at six, again pointing to Coalition warplanes while BNN put the death toll at at least ten, with dozens more wounded.

Q_Alenzy reported the death of two families when the home of Khaled Al-Latif was bombed.

The Coalition denied casualties in its June 2017 report, noting: ”26. April 10, 2017, near Tashrin, Syria, via social media: No Coalition strikes were conducted on that day in the geographic area of the reported civilian casualties. The closest strike to the report of possible civilian casualties was 2 km away.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Tishreen farm (مزرعة تشرين), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.132398, 38.869372. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4 – 10
  • (1 child1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (20) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • News bulletin reporting on the alleged Coalition airstrike on Tishreen farm, 9th April 2017. (via JisirTV)
CJTF–OIR Declassified Assessment and Press Release

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.

Declassified Assessment Press Release

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Reason for non-credible assessment
    No Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None
  • Stated location
    near Tashrin, Syria
    Nearest population center

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Jun 2, 2017
  • No Coalition strikes were conducted on that day in the geographic area of the reported civilian casualties. The closest strike to the report of possible civilian casualties was 2 km away.

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For April 9th-10th: the Coalition did not report any strikes near Raqqa, though did note that “Near Tabqah, 14 strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed five vehicles, two fighting positions, and a VBIED; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.“

Media
from belligerent (1) [ collapse]

  • April 9, #CJTFOIR conducted 27 strikes consisting of 89 engagements against ISIS terrorists in Syria & Iraq (via CJTFOIR)

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4 – 10
  • (1 child1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (20) [ collapse]