Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Four civilians died in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Al Hazimah, according to local sources.
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said that “a number of martyrs fell following Coalition raids on Hazima town north of Raqqa city.” Step News reported “more than nine raids north of Raqqa” including strikes on the outskirts of Hazimah but did not mention civilian casualties.
Al Raqqa Ahlona named the victims – however, it should noted that these victims were also named as killed in incident CS711 on April 20th at Maysaloun Farms, Raqqa.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Al Hazimah (الهزيمة), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.1320519, 38.9661026. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (7) [ 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
-
After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that there is insufficient evidence to find civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For April 22nd – 23rd, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 10 strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit, destroyed 24 ISIS oil facility assets and a fighting position.”
For April 23rd-24th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, seven strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, a heavy machine gun, a tactical vehicle, and an ISIS well head.”
‘Sunday 23 April – Typhoons destroyed an armed truck south-west of Tabqah in Syria, while Tornados bombed a Daesh position in western Mosul…On Sunday 23 April, Typhoons assisted the SDF, destroying an armed truck near Tabqah, west of Raqqa. In western Mosul, a Daesh-held building was struck by a Paveway IV, released by a Tornado flight, after Iraqi troops came under fire from the building.’