US-backed forces’ caused more than a thousand fatal casualties while expelling the Islamic State (ISIS) from Raqqa, according to monitoring groups.
Since operations started in June–on the Syrian capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate–at least 1,352 civilians were killed by coalition air-strikes, according to the London-based non-profit Airwars.org.
Citing research from the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the group also said that ISIS militants were responsible for 311 civilian deaths, while US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were deemed responsible for 191 civilian fatalities.
“ISIS put civilians in incredible danger, employing them as human shields to ward off fire–or worse, ensure their deaths,” Airwars said on Thursday. It noted that the militant fundamentalists did the same thing, during Iraqi government-led operations to wrest Mosul from ISIS control.
Operations against the Islamic State are continuing–despite the ejection of the group from its capital. The Pentagon said Thursday that it conducted five strikes in Syria and seven strikes in Iraq against ISIS targets.
Airwars estimates that at least 5,637 civilians have been killed since 2014, when coalition forces launched operations to destroy the Islamic State.
The majority of civilians who perished were killed during Trump administration rule—despite the fact that President Obama was Commander-in-Chief for more than two years of counter-ISIS operations.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, while discussing the war against ISIS, Donald Trump promised to “take out their families.”
ISIS rose to power amid an intensifying civil war in Syria, taking control of Raqqa in 2013. The group seized Mosul in Iraq, in 2014, with support from Iraqi Sunnis upset with the sectarian Shia rule of then-Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki.
The Iraqi central government’s loss of Mosul saw ISIS capture a bevy of arms, “including American-produced weapons and military vehicles, which were subsequently employed to capture other areas,” as Vice News noted in 2015.
The seizure of US-provided weapons by hostile militants has become an issue again, recently–in the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Taliban militants are increasingly carrying out suicide attacks with vehicles taken from government forces.
“Considering the number of such vehicles at the Taliban’s disposal, security officials and analysts fear this tactic will inflict heavier casualties on Afghanistan’s already struggling security forces,” The Times said.
