Geolocation
Airwars assessment
An August 2017 Amnesty International report documented a civilian casualty incident in Raqqa, in which 9 members of the same family were killed on June 8th, 2017. The neighbour of the family had told the organization’s field researchers that in the early evening, Abdallah Allawi, his wife Muntaha, and their seven sons, aged between three and 18, were killed when their home was shelled and destroyed.
Amnesty mentioned that the house could have been targeted by either air or artillery strikes. The interviewed neighbour had stated that the family’s house had been hit by an airstrike, but this was based on the presumption that only an air bombardment could have completely destroyed the building.
Airwars researchers have so far identified no known public allegations of civilian casualties with the same first or last names.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
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
-
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 June 7th-8th: “Near Raqqah, 22 strikes engaged 16 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 12 fighting positions, three vehicles, two ISIS staging areas, an ISIS excavator, an ISIS weapons cache, and an ISIS training camp.” It also added that “On June 7, near Raqqah, Syria, one strike destroyed six fighting positions and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.” And that “On June 7, near Raqqah, Syria, one strike destroyed an ISIS minefield.”
For June 8th-9th, the Coalition reported: “Near Raqqah, nine strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, three vehicles and a mortar system.
Friday 9 June – Tornados struck a Daesh position in eastern Raqqa…On Friday 9 June, Tornados struck a Daesh position in eastern Raqqa.