The US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIL) passed a gruesome milestone recently, according to a well-respected observer of the military campaign.
United States forces and their allies have killed at minimum 1,000 civilians after a year-and-a-half of war against ISIL, according to Airwars.org.
The non-profit said Wednesday that it made the assessment “based on credible public reports and confirmed Coalition strikes in the vicinity.”
“[S]ome 166 of these incidents are currently assessed as having likely led to civilian deaths—with a reported range of 1,004 to 1,419 killed,” the group said in a press release. It noted the lower estimate is “fifty times greater than the number of civilian deaths so far admitted by the US-led alliance.”
Airwars additionally noted that its researchers have identified 352 “reported civilian casualty events” indicating the US-backed coalition might have already killed up to 2,961 civilians.
Though information about the war on ISIL and news from inside ISIL-held territory is generally difficult to corroborate, Airwars has been seen by many news organizations as a reliable source. Its work has recently been cited by The Washington Post, CNN, Public Radio International, and Politifact.
In November, District Sentinel Radio interviewed author and reporter Chris Woods, the head of Airwars.org. Listen to that episode here.
