The US raid in Atmeh
Introduction
In the early morning of 3 February 2022, United States forces conducted a raid on a three storey building in the town of Atmeh in northwest Syria. The third floor apartment in the building was the home of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim Al Hashimi Al Qurashi (also referred to as Hajji Abdullah), reported target of the raid. The building also housed civilians, including women and children, on all three floors. The raid and subsequent clashes between those in and outside the building killed multiple civilians, including women and children.
Methodology
Syrian Archive conducted an investigation into the incident by:
Preserving, analysing, and verifying 157 videos, pictures, and reports uploaded online showing the incident site, the incident as it occurred, and its aftermath, including casualties, munition remnants, and damage to the building;
Analysing 13 videos and pictures captured by a Syrian Archive researcher at the impact site;
Researching and identifying munitions shown in videos and pictures uploaded to social media;
Examining satellite imagery showing the incident site and other relevant locations; and
Analysing flight data for the presence of aircraft above the incident site at the time of the incident.
The investigations team drew from lead information collected by a number of organisations and analysts.
This investigation is a summary of multiple stages of analysis of available open source information. These sources provided the team with information related to the date, timing, location, victims, and impact of the attack. By examining all available information about the attack, the investigation team developed an understanding of the incident.
Pictures and videos were captured by a Syrian Archive researcher on the ground five days after the incident occurred. Within those five days, appliances, clothes, and other belongings of the building’s residents were removed or cleaned. The pictures and videos taken by a Syrian Archive researcher on the ground featured in this report are being used to highlight key features of the site that are consistent across open source content from 3 February and photos taken by a Syrian Archive researcher on 8 February.
For more details about Syrian Archive’s methodology, please visit our site.
About Abu Ibrahim Al Hashimi Al Qurashi
Born near Mosul, Iraq, Al Qurashi joined Al Qaeda in the early 2000’s and, after the establishment of the Islamic State (IS), became the general sharia and deputy governor of Mosul. In 2008, Al Qurashi was arrested by United States forces in a raid on his home and was placed in prison. After his release, Al Qurashi became a judge in Mosul and was asked to establish an institute to prepare future judges in Sharia law. Al Qurashi is said to be responsible for promoting the capturing of Yazidi women in Iraq. Subject to several assassination attempts, Al Qurashi went into hiding following the territorial defeat of IS, moving between different houses in northwest Syria and in 2019 he was nominated as successor for the head of the Islamic State. The United States government was pursuing Al Qurashi before he assumed leadership of the Islamic State, allocating 5 million US dollars for information on his whereabouts or role in the genocide of Yazidis. In March 2020, the United States government designated Al Qurashi a global terrorist.
About Atmeh, Syria
Atmeh is a town in the Idlib governorate on Syria’s border with Turkey. The town is home to two large internally displaced persons (IDP) camps whose populations have surged since the recent concentration of attacks on civilian centres in the Idlib governorate.
To see the full investigation, you can visit the site here...
