Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to eighteen civilians including nine children and three women died in alleged Coalition airstrikes in Tabaqa, according to multiple local sources.
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently reported that “the family of Ali Abu Aish was killed after they were targeted by a coalition plane with machine gun fire while they were trying to leave Al Tabaqa.” The group later said that as many as 17 civilians were killed, reporting that they died “as a result of the targeting by international coalition aircraft of civilian cars as the cars tried to get out of the city of Al Tabaqa which is besieged by the Kurdish militias.”
Step News Agency was among other sources attributing the incident to the Coalition. It said that the death toll had risen to 11. According to Al Jazeera, which also put the death toll at 11 including eight from one family, the Coalition carried out a raid “near the School of Industry” while another strike “targeted a car of a family trying to flee the city.” Syrian Press Center and Qasioun put the death toll as high as 18.
RBSS named 17 victims.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (6)
Family members (3)
Family members (3)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Tabaqah (الثورة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.8295049, 38.5360909. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (30) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]
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Abd al Salam and Ali Abu Aish killed with their entire family when an alleged Coalition airstrike hit their car in Tabaqa, April 24th (via RBSS)
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Two men stand amongst the rubble in Tabaqah, one holds the body of a civilian child in his arms. the imapct of alleged Coalition strikes on Tabaqah, April 24th (via Alaraby)
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Mounir Ali Abu Al Aish, aged 5, allegedly killed with his mother and his siblings in Coalition airstrikes on Tabaqah, April 24th (via Euphrates Post)
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Smoke plumes above Tabaqah following an alleged Coalition strike, April 24th (via Al Raqqa Truth)
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Smoke plumes above Tabaqah following an alleged Coalition strike, April 24th (via Al Raqqa Truth)
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Smoke plumes above Tabaqah following an alleged Coalition strike, April 24th (via Al Raqqa Truth)
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Mohammad Khaled Abdel Aziz, 9 months old, died in alleged Coalition strikes in Tabaqah, April 24th (via Al Raqqah Truth)
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 April 23rd-24th, the Coalition reported: “Near Tabqah, 12 strikes engaged 10 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 12 fighting positions, one tactical vehicle, one ISIS vehicle, one heavy machine gun, and a command and control node.”
For April 24th-25th, the Coalition reported: “Near Tabqah, seven strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed three ISIS command and control nodes, a fighting position, and a heavy machine gun; and suppressed two ISIS tactical units.”