The US-led coalition strike against the Islamic State ISIS in Syria and Iraq is estimated to have killed about 352 civilians since the operation started three years ago. This was made known by the US military on Sunday.
The monthly Civilian casualty report published by the Combined Joint Task Force known as Operation Inherent Resolve, says the US aim to review the civilian casualty report, though it’s practically impossible to probe all reports with the current applicable traditional investigative methods in place which include the interviewing and examining of witnesses on site.
Coalition investigative approach
The approach of the coalition in adopting its report include interviewing pilots and other personnel directly involved in the targeting process, It reviews surveillance videos and targeted strikes, analyzes compiled information from government sources and aid agencies, partner forces and the media both traditional and social to arrive at the figures. This was contained in a statement by the task force.
Offensive against ISIS
The Inherent Resolve is an attack led by US forces against the Islamic State that began since August 2014. Groups like Airwars which monitors coalition led military strikes in the war town region have issued greater estimates of Civilian Casualties than the Pentagon.
The tasks force issued a statement and said that it regret the accidental loss of innocent lives as a result of Coalition determination to end ISIS siege in Iraq and Syria. It also sympathizes with the families and all those directly and indirectly affected by the strikes, the statement said.
Conflicting casualty reports
As at the end of February, there were 229 civilian deaths recorded, and the latest figure of 352 casualties mark a massive increase in the number of recorded deaths.
The new report cited 45 confirmed casualties from November through March while it also cited 80 deaths that were unannounced before. An audit conducted shows that previous reports incorrectly reported a net reduction of casualty figures.
42 reported deaths are under review by the military, which includes deaths reported last month in Mosul.
About 17 new casualty reports were considered incredible. The coalition forces have carried out more than 20,000 strikes from August 2014 through March 2017, the Pentagon said in a report made available in late April.
