In its monthly casualty report of 30th August 2018, the Coalition conceded it had caused civilian harm in an event not previously tracked by Airwars. This was later identified as a likely French airstrike – thougfh Paris has refused to confirm or deny this.
According to the official report, “February 9, 2018, near al-Bahrah village, Syria, via self-report. During a strike on Daesh-held building, one civilian was unintentionally killed as a motorcycle entered the impact area moments before the strike.”
The Coalition later supplied Airwars the Military Grid Reference System coordinates for the strike, accurate to within a 100 metre box.
While local sources did not make mention of this specific event, media outlets did report clashes in al Bahra around the same time. Ennabaladi noted that “battles are taking place today in the villages of al Bahra, Hajin and al Shaafa, following the advance of SDF during the past few days and its control of the town of Granij amid repeated attacks by the organization [ISIS].”
Syrian Free Army reported Coalition aircraft targeting “a group of members of the Islamic state” on the outskirts of al Bahra but said that this took place on February 8th.
In March 2020, Airwars and Liberation and De Morgen published a joint investigation revealing that France was refusing to accept responsibility for civilian harm in this event – despite all other allies ruling themselves out.
After confirming receipt from Airwars in June 2019 of details of possible French civilian casualty events, the defence ministry then ceased communication – refusing to answer all subsequent emails.