U.S. airstrike on Al-Jinah mosque

News

 * US admits strike on ‘Al-Qaeda meeting’ in Syria amid reports of deadly mosque attack nearby - RT, March 17, 2017
 * Us Admits Strike on ‘al-Qaeda Meeting’ in Idlib Amid Reports on Deadly Mosque Attack Nearby - South Front, March 17, 2017
 * Exclusive: US says it carried out deadly strike that hit Aleppo mosque - Samuel Oakford, Ariwars, March 16, 2017
 * Pentagon denies striking mosque in Syria, says it killed al Qaeda militants - Reuters, March 17, 2017
 * "We struck a meeting of senior al Qaeda terrorists, some of these were likely high value individuals, we're currently assessing that," Davis said.

Reports
The SOHR explains (as seems likely) this was a general mosque complex, but the "religious center" part of it is what was hit. Those killed were "mostly" civilians there fore "prayer and religious lesson," as the report puts it. A Pentagon statement described it as a "partially constructed community meeting hall" that was used by al Qaeda leaders "as a place to educate and indoctrinate" militants." They say there was a Thursday religious meeting, but surveillance suggested it had ended before the strike, and that the surveillance photo they published was taken less than five minutes after the attack ended.


 * Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) seems to have more secondary information here: "The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented so far the death of 42 persons,...the warplanes which targeted the mosque is unknown."
 * Al Aan TV reporter Jenan Moussa reports in a series of tweets about her visit to the location and interviews with people on the ground, March 18, 2017

Analysis

 * Did The U.S. Really Bomb A Mosque In Syria? Many Factors At Play In Latest Reports - Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post, March 17, 2017
 * CONFIRMED: US Responsible for ‘Aleppo Mosque Bombing’ - Christiaan Triebert, Bellingcat, March 16, 2017
 * US claims al Qaeda ‘meeting location’ struck in Syria - Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal, March 17, 2017
 * Aleppo mosque airstrike controversy: ‘US only considers sources credible when it suits them’ - RT, March 18, 2017

Location
The ‘Umar ibn Al-Khaṭṭāb mosque and religious school sits on the Aleppo to Idlib road 1.7 km southwest of al-Jinah and 3 km northeast of Abian Sam'an. The location is in the Idlib Plain, nearer to Idlib than Aleppo, but inside Aleppo Province. There are about 40 houses within a 500 meter radius of the mosque, 15 of these are along the 200 meter stretch of road northeast. Urem al-Kubra, the site of the attack on the SARC aid convoy is on the same road 17 km to the east.
 * Wikimapia

The old mosque on the site is about 10 times 10 meters in size. Construction of a new building started sometime before March 19, 2014. The latest satellite photo on Google Earth from August 26, 2014 shows the complex still unfinished but with some progress.

The size of the building is 30 x 50 meters. Both ends of the building have a cellar level with metal grids on the windows. At the southern end at the cellar level there is a prayer hall sized 30 x 30 meters and a similar sized but unfinished floor above it. The northern end contained a staircase and two meeting rooms sized 15 x 15 meters in each of the two or three floors, (making 4 or 6 rooms total)

The northern part of new building, including the cellar floor was completely destroyed. The southern half with the prayer hall is almost intact. From a technical point the strike was a 100% success, with exactly the rooms targetted destroyed and nothing else.


 * https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/842709482346070016
 * https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/842784916282728448

The latest satellite images from the site show a this building on the site, still unfinished, to the east of the old mosque. The size of the top floor is about 15 x 25 meters, with multiple small room, as if for living.

Reactions

 * ''See also: Talk:U.S. airstrike on Al-Jinah mosque

Al-Qaeda blames the U.S.
Al-Qaeda Central condemns America. Al-Qaeda's Al Nafir Bulletin condemns the attack, speaks of 300 of our people killed and wounded. See AL-Nafir 11
 * Al-Qaeda Order: 'Do Not Consult Anybody to Kill Americans' - Bridget Johnson, PJ Media, March 19, 2017

Victims

 * ''For more, see Talk:U.S. airstrike on Al-Jinah mosque


 * محمد عثمان‏ @mohammedalnor1 - March 19, 2017 (Shows photos of 5 victims.)
 * من مجزرة بلدة #الجينة بريف حلب الغربي (From his massacre #الجينة Brive Aleppo West)
 * Suren Georges‏ @SurenGeorges Retweeted محمد عثمان
 * ''Photos of tonight massacre by #Assad/#Russia after airstrikes on a mosque in alJina. +75 killed.
 * ''100% warcrime and terrorism #Syria #الجينة
 * شبكة مراسل سوري‏ @Sy_Reporter - March 19, 2017 (White Helmets publishes two lists with 29 and 26 names.)
 * مراسل_سوري
 * الدفاع المدني يعلن توثيق 54 شهيدا بالإضافة لـ 10 آخرين مجهولي الهوية جراء الغارات الجوية للتحالف الدولي على مسجد بلدة #الجينة
 * Translation'' #مراسل_سوري Civil defense declares documenting 54 martyrs in addition to another 10 unidentified persons by international coalition air raids on the #الجينة town mosque.

YouTube

 * YouTube playlist - In temporal order by publication time. First videos show chaotic action at the site.
 * لقطات من مكان مجزرة الجينة التي تسبب بها طيران التحالف الدولي بريف حلب الغربي - RFS NORTH - Shows a clear view of the damage.
 * زمان الوصل من مكان الحدث.. الصلاة الأخيرة لـ 40 مدنيا بغارة استهدفت مسجد الجينة - ZAMAN ALWSL - Shows multiple victims.
 * اللقطات الأولى لمجزرة ارتكبتها طائرات حربية في مسجد الجينة بريف حلب - SMART News Agency - Shows wounded, more victims
 * #حلب_نيوز| إخراج العالقين من تحت الأنقاض نتيجة استهداف طائرات التحالف لمسجد في بلدة الجينة. - Aleppo News Network HNN - Someone is rescued from the rubble.
 * #حلب_نيوز: شاهد كلمات مؤثرة لأحد الناجين من مجزرة بلدة الجينة في ريف حلب الغربي. - Aleppo News Network HNN - comment from someone who shares the lack of a mustache with the rescued people in the previous video
 * شام عشرات الشهداء في قصف للتحالف لمسجد في بلدة الجينة بريف حلب الغربي 17 3 2017 - ShaamNetwork S.N.N - One mushed-up body is found under rubble, carried away in a blanket.
 * Syria: Air strike on a Mosque packed with worshipers near Aleppo kills 42 - FRANCE 24 English - Mainstream meltdown.
 * طائرات التحالف تستهدف مسجداً في بلدة الجينة بريف حلب الغربي أثناء أداء صلاة العشاء 17-3-2017 - Aleppo Media Center - Shows a view from inside the undamaged payer hall.
 * مشاهد قاسية من اخراج الجثث في بلدة الجينة نتيجة الغارات من قبل طيران التحالف - thiqa agency - Same mushed-up body is recovered. (Staged?)
 * مسجد الجينة الذي استهدفه التحالف الصليبي الغاشم وراح ضحيته 250بين شهيد وجريح من الناس المدنيين - Jairo Hamwi - U.S. journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem describes the site in English.
 * مجزرة باستهداف طيران التحالف الدولي مسجدا في بلدة الجينة بريف حلب - Canal bridge the space - Another view from inside the prayer hall.
 * شهداء مسجد الجينة بعد، قصفه ليلة امس (Martyrs Mosque after the gene, bombed overnight) - Jaber Syrian Sunni - Video of suicide bombings in Damascus passed off as al-Jinah.
 * مؤثر لحظة استخراج طفل من تحت الانقاض وهو على قيد الحياة في بلدة الجينة (Influential moment to extract a child from under the rubble, which is alive in the town of gene) - thiqa agency
 * Child is rescued from rubble by White Helmets. Video shows all signs of fakery.
 * أكثر من 50 قتيلا في غارات للاحتلال الروسي على بلدة الجينة غرب حلب (More than 50 people were killed in the raids of the Russian occupation of the town of gene-west of Aleppo) - Orient News
 * Reporter arrives early at the scene. Video shows early rescue work. Published a day late, with original Orient News logo.
 * مقتل 37 مدنيا إثر غارات استهدفت مسجدا بريف حلب (Killing 37 civilians after the raids targeted a mosque Brive Aleppo) - Al Jazeera Arabic
 * Al Jazeera reports directly from site.
 * أثار الدمار الذي خلفه الطيران الامريكي علي مسجد في قرية الجينة بريف حلب الغربي - Agency Sun - Shows clearing work.
 * شاهد آثار الدمار ببلدة الجينة واستمرارا انتشال الضحايا STEP News Agency - More clearing work. White Helmets supposedly find dead body. (But why is it already wrapped in a blanket?)
 * مجزرة الجينة 16-3-2017 - Syrian Civil Defense - Aleppo - White Helmets find body. Pieces of weapons shown.
 * Scenes of what remained of a al-Jinah mosque west of Aleppo after US raid - Ruptly - High quality nighttime footage.
 * A massacre carried out by US airstrike in Al Jinah 3.16.17 - معاذ الشامي - English captions
 * Video shows view of the prayer hall. Only a small number of people, maybe 10, have been here during or after the attack. The carpet is covered with dust, from the blast. Footsteps are clearly shown.

Twitter

 * Two videos by Bilal Abdul Kareem‏ from March 17:
 * 10:12 am - US strike, 56 dead, last night in Jeena didn't hit HTS. Locals: 'It hit Tabligh gathering that happens evry Thursday for past 4 yrs
 * 2:02 pm - US claims that it's airstrike that killed 56 in Jeena didn't hit the mosque are false. See for yourself
 * Walid‏ @walid970721
 * Watch the White Helmet at the bombing site in Al-Jineh accuse the Russian air force of the US attack on the mosque on Thursday #Syria (English captions)