Elsi! A TV A redibilit Assessment- 21 ?e tember 2015 On 4 October 2015, the New York Times published an article alleging multiple CIVCAS resulting from a Coalition airstrike In Mosul, Iraq on 21 September 2015. After review of all available mission materials and open- source reports, the allegation of civilian casualties is deemed CREDIBLE. (U) CIVCAS Allegation Source: On 4 October 2015, the New York Times published an article in the opinion section titled ?When War Comes Close to Home.? The article was written by Zareena Grewal, a Yale University professor of both American and religious studies. She is the author of two books: ?Islam is a Foreign Country: Is the Quran a Good Book?? and ?American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority.? In her recent article, Grewal claims that a Coalition airstrike in Mosul during the pre-dawn morning of 2 September killed her husband?s family members. The New York Times article alleges: In the dead of night on Sept. 2 I, an airstrike from the skies above Mosul, Iraq, flattened the homes ofmy husband ?s cousins, instantly killingjour innocent civilians, and maiming others. he shock wave reverberated throughout our family scattered around the world, even here in quiet Connecticut. The American-led air campaign did not hit a weapons storage jacil ity belonging to the Islamic State, or ISIS, as one local report claimed. In a secluded part of Mosul that locals call ?the Woods, the empty government warehouse, which the Islamic State brie? occupied until January, remains untouched. Instead, the strike hit two homes nearby, killing my husband 's cousin, Mohannad Rezzo, a university professor; his I 7-year-old son, Najeeb; and their beloved German shepherd, Sinbul. Mohannad ?s wife, Sana, survived the explosion, which flung her, burned, . from her second-?oor bedroom to the driveway below. Mohannad ?s older brother, Bassim, also narrowly survived, but his wife, Miyada, and their 21-year-old daughter, Talia, did not. Bassim 's pelvis and leg were shattered in the attack and require surgery, but it is his emotional pain that consumes him. Meanwhile, Bassim ?s elderly parents have fallen into such a state ofshock and griefthat they refuse to eat, and we worryjor their health. Asfor the two families older children, Abdulla, and Yahya, they mourn their parents and siblings from a safe distance, having moved out of Mosul last year. But like us, they are deprived of the solace of attending funerals, and are condemned to sleepless nights trying to make sense of how missiles or bombs could be launched against a defenselessjamily who did not have so much as a pistol in the home. A spokeswoman for the United States Air Force Central Command confirmed that it became aware of'a ?civilian casualty allegation in Mosul the day after the airstrikes. In an email Friday, the Air Force spokeswoman, Maj. Genieve David, said Centcom was assessing the credibility of the reports, before determining any follow-on action, which might include a ?formal investigation. I desperately want the Islamic State to be defeated, but I wonder if our rage at it has made us blind to anyone we kill along the way, even those whose lives have been terrorized by the group. Page 1 of 13 110089 Iraqi civilian losses used to be referred to as the inevitable ?collateral damage ofwar: but from the scant Arabic media coverage and the silence of the Western press, it is painfully clear that the deaths of my loved ones have not even earned that ghastly euphemism. These civilian victims are simply lumped together with the death toll of Islamic State ?ghters. Only one Iraqi journalist made reference to ?incalculable civilian losses in this recent wave of Mosul airstrihes. It will not bring our relatives back, but I want their deaths to be counted and for them to be recognized Jfor who they were: Muslim civilians, not Islamic State militants. visited their elegant homes, disastrously mistaken for a weapons depot. My Iraqi relatives lives were ?ll of love, laughter, books, delicious smells (?food, gleaming marble floors, white curtains ?oating in the breeze, and children running up and down the stairs. Now relatives send me pictures of unrecognizable rubble. (U) Additional open source reports, including CENTCOM press releases, acknowledge airstrikes in the Mosul area over the night in question. Multiple open source reports indicate that the family in the allegation was killed, but they all reference the New York Times article as the source. The online search criteria used to identify these open source reports are listed below. Also, the author of the article was contacted via of?cial AFCENT channels and she provided the post-strike pictures referenced in the New York Times article. a. (U) Search criteria: I. .. ll. Mosul, Iraq Civilian casualties Bomb(ing) iv. Airstrike v. The Woods vi. Mohannad Rezzo vii. SanaRezzo Najeeb Rezzo 13. (U) Sources searched: .. ll. Reuters Iraq body counter website New York Times iv. Twitter v. Facebook vi . YouTube 3. (U) Coalition Strike Activitv 17-0039 Page 2 of 13 Pages 3 lhrough 13 redacted for the following reasons: {Eh?{1 {bk?131' 113111)] Ad. {131(5) {hum