Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Multiple sources reported that US airstrikes, or possibly US naval strikes, targeted alleged AQAP militants in the Al Maraqisha area of Abyan governorate, late on July 23rd 2017. Other sources reported similar strikes in the area the previous night, though did not assign responsibility to the US. There were no known reports of civilian harm.
Twitter user @demolinari, a usually reliable source, indicated on July 23rd that there were reports of US strikes in the area. Some, such as @drwaheepsaad and @Sbyhy1, specified that strikes targeted locations in Al-Maraqisha including Mogan, Husn Saeed, and Al-Maroun.
The latter source, @Sbyhy1, stated late on July 23rd that there was “news of deaths”. Given this, Airwars has assessed that at least two militants were reportedly killed in the alleged strikes.
Earlier sources from the previous night, also describing attacks in the same area, did not assign responsibility to the US. These sources further suggested that strikes targeted the Al-Waddi district of Abyan, from the direction of Al-Maraqisha, and one, @AdenNowNews, reported “hundreds of deaths”. Since these reports did not assign responsibility to the US, they are not accounted for in a unique event.
The incident occured during the night.
Summary
Sources (8) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention strikes in the Jabal Al Maraqisha (جبل المراقشه) area that includes the coastal portion to the south, allegedly targetting Mojan (موجان) at: 13.425116, 46.171369; Al Maroun (المرون), Malaj (املج), and Husn Said (حصن سعيد) at: 13.433773, 46.270462. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Jabal Al Maraqisha are: 13.561668, 46.134923.