Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In an incident not previously tracked by Airwars, on April 1st 2017 the Coalition said it had concluded an assessment on social media claims of civilian harm “near Raqqa, Iraq”. According to the Coalition report, “108. May 22, 2017, near Raqqah, Syria, via social media report: 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.”
The Coalition shared the location of this assessed strike with Airwars. The location was stated as Kadiran in the vicinity of Raqqa.
The strike was assessed as non credible based on the claim that “no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.” However, the Coalition reported multiple strikes in Raqqa that day.
No additional details are presently known.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (1) [ 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 20th-21st, the Coalition reported that: "Near Raqqah, five strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, two vehicles, an ISIS staging area and a construction vehicle.
For May 21st-22nd the Coalition reported that: “Near Raqqah, 13 strikes engaged 12 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 11 fighting positions, nine vehicles, two supply caches, a mortar system, an ISIS headquarters; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.”
"Sunday 21 May – Typhoons destroyed a weapons stockpile on the outskirts of Raqqa, Tornados dealt with a sniper and a heavy machine-gun in Mosul… The latter hit a further pair of targets in Mosul on Sunday 21 May, eliminating a sniper and a heavy machine-gun team. On the eastern outskirts of Raqqah, Typhoons destroyed a weapons stockpile."