Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Four civilians died and eight were wounded in an alleged Coalition airstrike on Raqqa’s Al Mashlab neighbourhood, according to two local sources. No further details are presently known.
In its December 2017 civilian casualty report, the US-led Coalition acknowledged that on “May 27, 2017 near Raqqah, Syria via media report. During a Coalition strike which destroyed an ISIS headquarters building it was assessed the three civilians were unintentionally killed.” However, because no coordinates were supplied, Airwars cannot determine if the admission refers to the locally reported incident in al Mashlab. The Mashlab incident was one of five civilian harm events monitored for this date in Raqqa.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (3) [ 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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During a Coalition strike which destroyed an ISIS headquarters building it was assessed the three civilians were unintentionally killed. (497)
Original strike reports
For May 26th-27th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, 12 strikes engaged 11 ISIS tactical units; destroyed seven vehicles, five fighting positions, three tunnels, an ISIS headquarters and an ISIS staging area.“
For May 27th-28th, the Coalition reported: "Near Raqqah, 15 strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units; destroyed six fighting positions, three ISIS headquarters, an ISIS staging area and a VBIED." For May 27th, it further added that "Near Raqqah, Syria, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed a six fighting positions, an ISIS-held building and a weapons cache."