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US-Led Coalition Admits Killing at Least 800 Civilians by Airstrikes in Syria, Iraq

Smoke rises after a US airstrike, as the Iraqi army pushes into TopZawa village during an operation against ISIS militants near Bashiqa near Mosul, Iraq October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Smoke rises after a US airstrike, as the Iraqi army pushes into TopZawa village during an operation against ISIS militants near Bashiqa near Mosul, Iraq October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
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US-Led Coalition Admits Killing at Least 800 Civilians by Airstrikes in Syria, Iraq

Smoke rises after a US airstrike, as the Iraqi army pushes into TopZawa village during an operation against ISIS militants near Bashiqa near Mosul, Iraq October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Smoke rises after a US airstrike, as the Iraqi army pushes into TopZawa village during an operation against ISIS militants near Bashiqa near Mosul, Iraq October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

At least 800 civilians have been killed by US-led coalition airstrikes against the ISIS terrorist group in Iraq and Syria since the campaign began in 2014, according to a Pentagon report released Thursday.

Five more strikes, all in Syria, were investigated over the past month and found to have resulted in 15 civilian additional civilian deaths, the report stated.

“We continue to hold ourselves accountable for actions that may have caused unintentional injury or death to civilians,” the coalition said in its report.

However, monitoring groups say the number of civilian casualties from coalition airstrikes in the fight against ISIS is far higher than the Pentagon acknowledges.

Since August 2014, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed as a result of coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, according to the London-based Airwars organization that tracks civilian deaths in the anti-ISIS operations.

The majority of civilian casualty allegations are currently from coalition airstrikes in Syria. The Pentagon says they are still assessing 695 reports of civilian casualties, more than 400 of which are from strikes carried out in Syria.

US-backed Syrian forces retook the city of Raqqa from ISIS control in October and pushed ISIS militants out of a swath of territory along the Euphrates river valley in the following weeks.

Each investigation that found an allegation credible determined it was "more likely than not" that a coalition strike resulted in a civilian casualty, the report stated.

"Although all feasible precautions were taken and the decision to strike complied with the law of armed conflict, unintended civilian casualties unfortunately occurred," the Pentagon added.

Since the start of the campaign against ISIS, the coalition has carried out more than 28,000 strikes and has received 1,790 reports of potential civilian casualties, the report said. These airstrikes have contributed to fueling progress against ISIS by Iraqi and Syrian ground forces, reducing ISIS-held territory to pockets of desert along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.