Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Three civilians died in an airstrike on the village of Samouqa, according to local sources – though reports were conflicted as to whether this was the work of Russia or the US-led Coalition.
Aleppo24, @ALAMAWI, Al Mukhtassar and Nabd Syria blamed Russia.
Aleppo 24 reported: “A family made up of 7 people killed and 3 other civilians killed in a cluster bomb raid thought to be Russian on the villages of Al Ghoz and al Samouq in al Shahba dam northern Aleppo countryside.”
According to Al Mukhtassar, “10 killed and dozens injured following Russian strikes using cluster bombs on the towns of al Ghoz and al Samouqa and al Shahba Dam area in northern Aleppo countryside.“
However, LCCSY reported three deaths were caused by “airstrikes with cluster bombs, believed to have been carried out by international Coalition warplanes.”
There had been no prior allegations of Coalition aircraft using cluster munitions – though many such claims against Russia.
In the first of their March 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 local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Jisr Samouqa (السموقة), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.433611, 37.249444. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (8) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]
Unknown Assessment:
Original strike reports
Russia has not reported any strikes between June 1st – 31st 2016.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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June 14, 2016, in Samouqa, Syria, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2973/CS230 37SCA430334
Original strike reports
For June 13th - 14th:
• Near Manbij, 13 strikes struck 10 separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL cave entrances, an ISIL weapons cache, an ISIL command and control node, two ISIL vehicles, and an ISIL security headquarters.
• Near Mar’a, three strikes struck two ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL tactical vehicle, and an ISIL mortar system.
For June 14th - 14th:
* Near Manbij, six strikes struck six separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.