The U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria has likely killed more than 1,000 civilians over the last 18 months, according to figures released Wednesday by a monitoring group.
Since August 2014, the U.S.-led coalition has carried out more 10,800 airstrikes, with coalition officials claiming to have killed more than 25,000 militants. However, according to the group Airwars, those strikes have exacted a high civilian toll, with somewhere between 1,000 and 1,400 civilians having “likely” been killed, inits assessment, and as many as 2,961 civilians alleged to have died.
The U.S. has admitted to killing as many as 21 civilians. Its 11 allies in the coalition have not admitted to killing any civilians.
Chris Woods, director of Airwars and a former BBC journalist, told teleSUR earlier this year that “the U.S. and its allies are still majorly under-reporting the numbers of civilians they are killing.”
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More than 500 civilians have been “credibly reported killed” in Iraq by the U.S.-led coalition, which includes France, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands.
In Syria, there has been an average of four alleged civilian casualty events every week, according to Airwars, and 22 in February 2016 alone, which the group says “may be linked to less restrictive rules of engagement.” In total, “between 504 and 697 civilians are likely to have been killed in coalition airstrikes.”
Russia, meanwhile, “is likely to have killed four times that number in just five months,” according to Airwars' analysis. Like 11 of 12 members of the U.S.-led coalition, Russia denies killing any innocents.
Kinda Haddad, Airwars lead researcher for Syria, said all the countries bombing Syria are aiding extremism.
“As long as we give Middle Eastern lives less value than our own, we will keep on feeding the hatred and suspicion that nihilistic groups like ISIS capitalize on to recruit the young and vulnerable,” she said.
