Pentagon Confirms 64 Civilians Killed in US Airstrikes in Syria, Iraq

Local Editor

The US military released its assessment of civilian casualties in US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria over the past 10 months. Official data suggest 64 people were killed and eight more injured in 24 separate strikes since November 2015.

"In each of the cases released today, the assessment determined that although all feasible precautions were taken and strikes complied with laws of armed conflict, civilian casualties unfortunately did occur," Colonel John Thomas, a spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement.

Mitigating civilian casualties remains a "key component" of the anti-Daesh [ISIS/ISIL] air campaign in Syria and Iraq, the military emphasized, acknowledging a handful of deadly strikes which were blamed on the US-led coalition.

For instance, according to a statement made on November 20 last year, five civilians were killed near Dayr Az Zawr, eastern Syria, when they happened to be in the target area of a US air strike.

A further 10 civilians were killed in a strike on March 5, near Mosul, northern Iraq, when the US-led coalition targeted a terrorist "weapons production facility," the statement added.

"We've applied lessons learned to reduce the likelihood of future civilian casualties," Thomas calimed.

The latest information does not include an investigation into a coalition air strike in mid-July near Manbij, in Syria's Aleppo Governorate, which according to some reports killed dozens of civilians. The military said that investigation is nearing completion.

Meanwhile, Major Josh Jacques, a spokesman for the US Central Command stated that the latest figures bring the total civilian death toll in the US anti-terrorist campaign to 119 civilians since the air strikes began in 2014.

Washington's assessment contradicts figures released late last month by Amnesty International which reported that at least 300 civilians were killed in just 11 airstrikes conducted by the US-led coalition in Syria alone.

"We fear the US-led coalition is significantly underestimating the harm caused to civilians in its operations in Syria," said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office, at the time.

"The fact they admitted from 24 to 60+ deaths in both Iraq as well as Syria indicates that they're not precise in their targeting of Daesh," Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire told RT.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team