This week, a video was published by a man who is known to report on military and security issues in Iraq, which showed Iraqi soldiers throwing suspected ISIS militants over a cliff and of those same suspects being executed. As the Iraqi government works to verify the footage, Human Rights Watch had already located the place where the executions had taken place using satellite imagery.

One Human Rights Watch member said that with the U.S.-led coalition seeing they were coming to the end of their fight against ISIS, Iraqi forces lifted the rules of engagement in order to speed up their victory.

This supports the view of more Civilian Casualties at the hands of the coalition, as there have been many reports over the years during battles against the Islamic State of soldiers also executing suspected ISIS members.

Amnesty International's report on human rights violations in Mosul

A recent report by Amnesty International said that U.S.-led Coalition Forces might have killed 5,805 Iraqi civilians between February and June as they had entered the Old City of Mosul. The battle to purge the extremist ISIS group from Mosul started in October 2016, which was already estimated to be challenging given the size of the city and how densely populated it is.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi claimed victory against ISIS last week while some Iraqi forces were reportedly still engaged in combat against an estimated 60 ISIS fighters.

The United Nations also reported there being between thirty to fifty thousand people still trapped in the city, and many have already fled.

Coalition denies reported casualties

U.S. Air Force Brig. General Andrew Croft was asked about Amnesty International's report on NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday titled: "What's Left Of Mosul After Iraqi Government Claims Victory," a report that accused the coalition of committing war crimes.

Croft said that the UN and Amnesty International's report was an "unfair accusation" and that the organization had not coordinated with the coalition for the report. Others in the coalition that have been asked about the report have said that Amnesty's report was irresponsible.

Croft went on to describe how the coalition was able to avoid casualties using weapons such as what he called low-collateral bombs which were precise when targeting snipers.

At one point in the fight, 200 civilians had been killed by air strikes which were initially blamed on ISIS. At the time, one commander also explained the use of missile technology where they're able to redirect a projectile at the last minute.

Atrocities committed by ISIS

Andrew Croft claimed that this was the case, especially against criticism from Amnesty International who said that thousands of civilians have been killed by coalition forces. The report included civilian deaths at the hands of ISIS. Croft also described how forces had seen civilians gunned down by the extremist fighters when those civilians tried to escape. In other fights with ISIS throughout Iraq such as in Tikrit, the extremist group resorted to tactics such as using civilians as human shields as they have in Mosul.

With the reports of civilian casualties, its also been reported that the extremist group has targeted the U.S.-led coalition and lured air strikes to buildings becoming targets where they're holding those civilians, which had initially made the fighting more difficult. Under President Trump's orders, the U.S. military has reportedly been pressured to be more flexible and aggressive against ISIS despite civilian casualties.

Croft said that because they were engaged in battle, naturally, there would end up being civilian casualties, as these are unavoidable. Towards the end of the fight over Mosul, Iraqi troops reported an increase in female suicide bombers hiding in crowds of civilians leaving the city. As of this writing, the video of suspected ISIS members being executed has yet to be verified.
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