Airwars: Rise in Civilian Deaths from Coalition Strikes Unprecedented
►https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2017/06/26/airwars-rise-in-civilian-deaths-from-coalition-strikes-unprecedented
Entire families are more frequently being killed in coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, according to Airwars researcher Alex Hopkins. However, he writes in IRIN News, it has become increasingly difficult to determine which party is to blame.
Airwars: Rise in Civilian Deaths from Coalition Strikes Unprecedented
►https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2017/06/26/airwars-rise-in-civilian-deaths-from-coalition-strikes-unprecedented
“KAFAA AL-MUSTAPHA AND two of her relatives were on their way to work in the Raqqa countryside when their car was hit by an alleged coalition airstrike last month. All three of the women, along with up to 20 other agricultural workers, were reportedly killed. They are among more than 700 estimated civilian victims of airstrikes by the U.S.-led international coalition fighting so-called Islamic State in the last three months in and around Raqqa.
The attack that killed Kafaa was just one of 160 reported “coalition casualty” events Airwars, which archives the war against IS, tracked in Iraq and Syria during May 2017. According to our estimates, last month was second only to March as the deadliest for civilians since coalition airstrikes began in August 2014.
We have seen an unprecedented and sustained rise in reported civilian deaths since January, when the campaigns to liberate Raqqa and Mosul began to escalate. Airwars is not alone in noting this trend: U.N. investigators have cited a “staggering” loss of civilian life from coalition airstrikes in Raqqa, and there is now serious concern for the estimated 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul’s Old City.”
