Geolocation
Airwars assessment
The Smart News Agency reported that “aircraft likely belonging to the coalition launched three raids on the town of Huneida (36 km west of the city of Raqqa), killing three civilians, and four members of IS, in addition to wounding 11 others.”
The Step News Agency reported that there had been a Coalition strike on Hunaida but made no mention of civilian casualties.
According to Sahafa, “the warplanes of the International Coalition carried out three air strikes in the town of Hnideh rural West Raqqa, targeting the mosque Al-Urwa Al-Wuthqaand the house of ‘Ibrahim Zaiter’. According to activists, the mosque and house were completely destroyed, though there were no reports of civilian casualties”.
Other sources reported that four members of IS died but didn’t mention civilian casualties.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Hunaida (هنيدة), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.83234, 38.69938. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (8) [ 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.
Original strike reports
For May 4th-5th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, three strikes destroyed a front-end loader and an ISIS well head. Near Tabqah, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two fighting positons and a vehicle.”
For May 5th-6th: “Near Raqqah, one strike destroyed two front-end loaders and damaged a dam. Near Tabqah, seven strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units; destroyed two ISIS boats, two vehicles, two fighting positions and a VBIED.” It later added that “Near Tabqah, Syria, May 5th, two strikes destroyed a fighting position.”