According to local sources, at least 13 and up to 30 civilians were killed and “tens of others” were injured in airstrikes on al Qasr village, also known as al Fadel, near the Syrian-Iraqi border in the Tal al Jayer area of al Hassaka governorate. Reports identified both the Coalition and the Iraqi air force as the likely culprit.
Most sources reported 25 or more civilians killed. The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported a lower tally of “at least 13”, whereas Shaam News detailed the higher figure of 30 civilians killed. Nearly all reports detailed that many women and children were among the killed and injured. Bukmalna described it as “a massacre against the al Jabour tribe”, but was the only source mentioning the tribal background of the victims.
An Al Khabour correspondent detailed that the bombing “targeted al Sheikh petrol station” where “the largest concentrations of displaced people in the region” are settled. The reporter stated that the bodies were buried in a mass grave in the town of Tel Jair.
A number of sources published the names of civilians killed in the strike. Marsad al Hassaka reported the most comprehensive list of 22 fatal victims, which included the names mentioned by all other sources:
Local journalist Mudar al Assad confirmed to Zaman al Wasl that most of the victims of the bombing were children, women and elderly members of the Khashman al-Assad family and pointed out that “the air raid targeted them as they slept in their homes last night.”
Other sources, including Sound and Picture, reported that “war planes coming from the side of #Iraq” were behind the initial airstrikes. Al Sham al Fadha tweeted that “The Iraqi Shiite crowd targets al Qasr village in al-Shadadi inside Syria”. Marsad al Hassaka stated that the “Iraqi Popular Militia Units (PMU)” subsequently struck the village with rockets, which “hindered the ambulance getting to the wounded from the Coalition bombing”.
A Euphrates Post reporter reiterated this in an interview with Orient News, stating that “they were also targeted again during the rescue operation from the raid.” In the same item, the reporter claims ISIS were no longer present in the village. An Al Jisr TV report reiterated that the PMU at the Tal Safok border crossing fired “dozens of mortars and artillery shells” on ISIS positions in Syria.
Most sources however, including the Syrian Network for Human Rights, identified the Coalition as the primary culprit.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights instead emphasized that it was not known whether the airstrikes “belong to the Iraqi Air Force or to the International Coalition”.
On May 6th the Iraq National Army tweeted a video of the Air Force carrying out airstrikes “against Daesh leadership HQs in the al Dashisha area inside Syrian territory”. This report was reiterated by Kurdistan 24. However, Hassaka Youth Union stated that this was in fact a video of the raid on the village of al Qasr. Airwars researchers have reached out to the source and are waiting for clarification to verify whether or not the video is related to this specific incident.
Nedaa quoted local sources reporting that “buildings located in al Sheikh fuel station, which housed displaced people from Deir Ezzor and Iraq were targeted killing 30 people”.
The report went on to say that that the Coalition killed 23 more civilians in the village of al Fadil. Al Sharq News also reported on both incidents, but noted that there “were conflicting reports about the second massacre”. Indeed, it is important to stress that in a private conversation, Hassaka Youth told Airwars researchers that the village of al Fadil does not exist. The sources are likely referring to the same incident in al Qasr, in which some of the casualties were from the al Fadil tribe – accidentally confusing the tribe for a village.
CJTF’s director of public affairs confirmed to Airwars around this time that some Iraqi air and artillery strikes against ISIS targets within Syria were now being counted as Coalition actions – though with Baghdad still also conducting its own unilateral actions. This meant that all recent civilian harm events allegedly involving Iraqi aircraft in Syria should be considered likely Coalition civilian casualty events.
In the second of their September 2020 civilian casualty reports, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area at that time.
The incident was first reported
on May 1, 2018
at 12:00 pm
by
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