Geolocation
Airwars assessment
One named civilian died during clashes between Kurdish and ISIL forces at Abu Jeddi.
According to the Syrian Observatory, “a man from Abu Jedi village in the northern countryside of Al-Tabaqa west of Al-Raqqah was killed in bombing by warplanes yesterday on the area, it is believed that the warplanes belong to the International Coalition.” RBSS named the victim as Hamid al Bakri.
According to Step News, “The outskirts of Tel Al Samin in the northern countryside has seen clashes between IS and SDF since this morning. international coalition aircraft launched several air raids on several villages in the western and northern rural areas, including Abu Jeddi north of al Tabaqa killing one civilian and wounding others.”
In what may be a reference to this event, the Coalition reported on March 4th that it was assessing a possible civilian casualty event at Abu Jeddi – though it gave the date as January 25th. A month later it noted: “Jan. 25, 2017, near Abu Jadi, Syria, via social media report: After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in this geographic area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.”
Given the date disparity and apparently well documented Coalition airstrikes on the village on January 24th, Airwars continues to list this as a likely event.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (9) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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Hamid al Bakri (via RBSS)
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 and strike video it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in this geographic area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For January 23rd-24th the Coalition reported: “Near Ar Raqqah, five strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed a UAV tower, an ISIL decoy tank, and an IED factory.”