Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CS799

Incident date

May 11, 2017

Location

بئر الهشم, Bir Al Hashem, Raqqa, Syria

Geolocation

36.002222, 38.8875 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between 12 and 18 civilians including eight children and four women – reportedly from the same family – died and dozens more were injured in an Coalition airstrike on the Al Hashem area north of Raqqa city, local media reported.

Euphrates Post said that 12 non-combatants were killed in the Coalition strike, most of whom were displaced from Raqqa’s Al Mashlab neighbourhood. The Syrian Network for Human Rights put the number killed at 13 including eight children and four women, saying that the Coalition was responsible.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll rose to 15, of which there were five children and women. Again, the source blamed Coalition jets.

Ahmad al Shibli reported “a coalition massacre in raid on a home in Bi’r al Hashem”.

Al Ragga Truth reported that 15 members of the al Hamoud family died in the strike.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (4)

Othman al Ahmad al Hamoud
Age unknown male killed
Zakiya al Othman
Age unknown female killed
Mozer Othman al Hamoud
Age unknown male killed
Amira Othman al Hamoud
Age unknown female killed

Family members (3)

Marya Hadi
Age unknown female killed
A son of Marya Hadi
Age unknown male killed
A second son of Marya Hadi
Age unknown male killed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 18
  • (8 children4 women2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (29) [ collapse]

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 Raqqah, Syria
    Nearest population center

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Jul 7, 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 5 km away

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For May 10th-11th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 11 strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed seven vehicles, three fighting positions, an ISIS barge, a VBIED factory, a weapons storage facility; and damaged two ISIS supply routes.” It later added that “Additionally, 13 strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on May 10th that closed within the last 24 hours. Near Raqqah, Syria, seven strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed 12 fighting positions, an ISIS headquarters, a command and control node, a supply cache, an ISIS staging area, a tactical vehicle, and a vehicle.”
For May 11th-12th. “Near Raqqah, eight strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, three VBIEDs, two ISIS oil storage tanks, two ISIS oil stills, two excavators, a front-end loader, an IED, and an ISIS staging area.” It later added that “Additionally, six strikes were conducted in Syria on May 11th that closed within the last 24 hours…. Near Raqqah, five strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed two VBIEDs, a fighting position, a weapons cache, a vehicle; and damaged two ISIS supply routes and a bridge.”

UK Military
  • English
    /
    Original

‘Thursday 11 May – Typhoons attacked three targets in eastern Syria, as well as a truck-bomb factory north-west of Raqqa. Tornados also struck six times in Mosul…On Thursday 11 May, a pair of Typhoons, armed with Paveway IVs, destroyed a truck-bomb staging area some fifteen miles north-west of Raqqa, while another pair supported the SDF in eastern Syria, hitting a mortar team and two Daesh-held buildings near Al Ulwah. The same day, two flights of Tornados patrolled over Mosul, using Brimstone missiles against two Daesh positions very close to Iraqi troops. A further Paveway IV eliminated a mortar in a courtyard, and three more Paveways cratered roads along which Daesh might have tried to move truck-bombs along.’

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 18
  • (8 children4 women2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (29) [ collapse]