The US-led coalition against ISIS has admitted responsibility for the death of more than 1,000 civilians in airstrikes that have been targeting ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
In in a statement on Thursday, the US-led coalition said that at least 1,190 civilians have been “unintentionally killed” as a result of coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
However, the website Airwars, which tracks civilian deaths in war, suggested up to 6,000 civilians had died.
The statement indicated that it carried over 184 open reports from previous months and received 10 new reports. “The assessment of 12 civilian casualty allegation reports has been completed. Out of the 12 completed casualty allegation reports, five reports were determined to be credible….A total of 182 reports are still open.”
The US-led coalition conducted a total of 32,397 strikes between August 2014 and the end of December 2018, the statement added.
The Syrian Coalition earlier has rejected any justifications for the targeting of civilians as it called for a thorough investigation into all operations causing civilian casualties and for compensating the victims.
The Coalition stressed that “operations against ISIS, especially in this crucial stage, must be precise, highly coordinated and organized.” It pointed out that it is unacceptable that civilians are paying the price of the hastiness amounting to disregard for the lives of innocent people. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
