A group of independent journalists reports that the US-led coalition alleging to be targeting the terrorist group of ISIS in Iraq and Syria has killed at least 459 civilians in just 57 airstrikes.
Airwars, as the group is named, examined 118 airstrikes over six months, identifying the 57 attacks through reporting from "two or more generally credible sources, often with biographical, photographic or video evidence."
"Almost all claims of noncombatant deaths from alleged coalition strikes emerge within 24 hours - with graphic images of reported victims often widely disseminated," the report said.
"In this context, the present coalition policy of downplaying or denying all claims of noncombatant fatalities makes little sense."
Since August, the United States and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against what they say are ISIS positions in Iraq. Since last September, some members of the US-led coalition have also been pounding purported ISIS positions inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.
More than 5,700 airstrikes have been launched in the campaign.
The fatalities reported by Airwars include more than 100 children. The US Central Command has, however, published only one official investigation so far that found two children were killed in a November 2014 strike in Syria.
The coalition’s lead commander, Lt Gen John Hesterman, has called the campaign “the most precise and disciplined in the history of aerial warfare.”
Airwars project leader Chris Woods, though, told The Guardian, “The emphasis on precision in our view hasn’t been borne out by facts on the ground.”
