Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In a major casualty incident, up to 73 civilians including 15 children and six women died and up to 120 others were wounded airstrikes on Abu Kamal, according to local media. The majority of the victims were reportedly displaced people.
Conflicting sources blame the US-led Coalition and the Iraqi air force. Additionally, one source attributed the incident to Russia. The Coalition, however, later denied responsible.
Death counts varied and ranged from 25 civilians upwards. According to Syrialive54 and Omar Madniah, up to 73 non-combatants – many of them woman and children – were killed. These sources blamed Iraqi warplanes, as did Al Jazeera, Qasioun, Deir Ezzor News and Euphrates Post, among other sources.
But according to Moaz Alshami, Step News, Madar Daily, the Syrian Network for Human Rights and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – among others – the Coalition was responsible. Madar Daily put the death toll at 72 with up to 120 more injured.
Syria News Desk said that the event was “believed to be by the International coalition and the Iraqi Air Force”, adding that “at least eight members of the organization [IS] were killed in the attack near the Rahman Mosque in the center”.
Ahmed Zahlan was alone in claiming that the strike was Russia. He put the death toll at 66. Comments on his tweet, however, challenged this and wondered why he was blaming Moscow.
Sources reported that multiple locations in Abu Kamal were hit, including homes near al Hajana barracks, al Rahman mosque and surrounding area, Post Office Street, Al Malaki restaurant and Al-Rusafa Association.
According to the Step News Agency 15 civilian homes were destroyed, while Euphrates Post said that “warplanes launched a phantom raid during the funerals of several of the victims in Abu Kamal.”
Both Euphrates Post and Syria-mirror published reports in which the Coalition denied responsibility.
Syria-mirror said: “According to US military spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon, coalition aircraft did not hit the town on Sunday and Monday, but only targeted oil production facilities run by the state organization more than 50 kilometers outside the town.”
Dillon said in a statement that the coalition aircraft did not carry out strikes in the time period during which the casualties occurred alleged, stressing the implementation of strikes on Boukmal on those two days, without mentioning the names of the countries that carried out the raids.”
Euphrates Post added that the Syrian regime also denied any link to the bombing, adding this “reinforced the theory that Iraqi forces had targeted the city following Iraq announcing that it would target Syrian territory in which IS was present – and that the Coalition is aware of the identity of any warplanes flying over Deir Ezzor.
The following victims have been listed in addition to those named below:
Two members of Musleh Mohammed Al-Tarrad’s family
The wife of Irfan Farid al-Abd al-Rahman
The daughter of Nuri Jamil Soloh and three of his sons
Ahmed Abdulrazzaq Al-Haj Mohammed’s mother.
Eight martyrs of the displaced from Deir Ezzor
Nine martyrs from displaced families from the countryside of Raqqa and Aleppo
Nine Iraqis displaced
Four unidentified persons whose bodies were burnt
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (7)
Family members (11)
Family members (4)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Abu Kamal (البوكمال), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.466049, 40.907593. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (68) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
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Nasser Abdel Latif Al Mir’i, killed with 10 members of his family, in a strike on Abu Kamal, May 15th (via Euphrates Post)
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
GRAPHIC: The aftermath of an airstrike on Abu Kamal, April 15th (via Syria News Desk)
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 14th-15th, the Coalition reported: “Near Dayr Az Zawr, five strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three ISIS fuel trucks, two ISIS well heads, and an ISIS pump jack.”