Civilians deaths soar into thousands from UK-US bombing campaign in Iraq-Syria

04/04/2017

michael

Western coalition now killing more civilians in Iraq-Syria than Russia, reports show

OVER 70,000 BOMBS HAVE KILLED at least 2,831 civilians in the continuing war of attrition across Iraq-Syria by the Western-led coalition bombing campaign, according to a monitoring group.

Journalist-led reporting group Airwars have recorded a worrying spike in civilian casualty reports as the bloody quagmire in the Middle East civil wars approaches its third year of the latest series of Western military air bombings.

The Tory Government won the support of parliament to join the military bombing in Syria in December 2015, despite warnings that killing civilians would intensify conflicts and the lack of ground troop support would lead to military failure.

Samuel Oakford, writing for Airwars, reported: “Hundreds of civilians have allegedly been killed in western Mosul during the first week of March during battles to capture the city, according to reports monitored by Airwars.

“Airwars has reviewed eleven separate incidents that occured over the first six days of the month, each of which was blamed – in part or wholly – on the coalition [led by western powers] by at least one source. Local reports allege that between 250 and 370 civilians were killed in these attacks.”

Read more – Reported civilian deaths from Coalition airstrikes March 2017

On 16 March the US confirmed it carried out an attack that hit a mosque in Aleppo, where reports suggest at least 42 people were killed. A previous attack from September 2015 was also admitted to have hit a family home.

CommonSpace previously reported calls to investigate the mounting evidence of civilian causalities from UK airstrikes. However, these were rebuffed and the UK military continues to deny responsibility for the thousands of civilian deaths linked to the most recent bombing campaigns.

Read more – Find the truth: Calls to investigate reported UK airstrike civilian casualties

In a statement released today [4 April] the UK military admitted that “the operating environment in the city [of Mosul] is very challenging, particularly given the closely-packed buildings, very narrow streets, and the density of the urban population”.

“The RAF continues to take all steps necessary to minimise civilian causalities,” the MoD claimed.

The Syrian civil war has raged on since 2011. Begining as a revolution against the Syrian Government, it subsequently degenerated into a multi-faction civil war. The Daesh (so-called Islamic State) movement took control of large parts of Iraq in 2014, including the important northern city of Mosul.