• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Sunday, June 4, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Amnesty: US-led Coalition Committed ‘Potential War Crimes’ in Syria

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
06/05/18
in World
isis drug raqqa

Syria's Raqqa. Photo: Reuters

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The U.S.-led military campaign to oust the Islamic State (IS) group from the Syrian city of Raqa in 2017 killed hundreds of civilians in indiscriminate bombing, committing possible war crimes, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The military operation failed to take “adequate account” of civilians and the “precautions necessary to minimise harm” to them in the city, which IS had declared its de facto capital in Syria, the human rights group said in a report.

“Coalition claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb IS out of Raqa while causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny,” the report concluded. “The coalition strikes detailed in this report appear either disproportionate or indiscriminate or both and as such unlawful and potential war crimes.”

The US-led coalition wanted to "annihilate 'Islamic State' (IS)." Instead they destroyed Raqqa, #Syria & let 'IS' go. 100s of civilians were killed & 1000s injured. We interviewed 112 civilian residents & visited 42 air strike sites. This is what we heard & saw. pic.twitter.com/AOdKNCvgHq

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) June 5, 2018

The United States led a four-month campaign of air strikes from June last year, dubbed a “war of annihilation” by U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis, to liberate Raqa from IS control.

Amnesty researchers travelled to the devastated city in February and spent two weeks visiting 42 coalition air strike sites, interviewing 112 witnesses and survivors.

The report — “‘War of Annihilation’: Devastating Toll on Civilians, Raqa – Syria” — details the experiences of four families “whose cases are emblematic of wider patterns”.

Between them, they lost 90 relatives and neighbours — 39 from a single family –- almost entirely from coalition air strikes, according to Amnesty.

“The cases provide prima facie evidence that several coalition attacks which killed and injured civilians violated international humanitarian law,” the report said.

The probe, which also analysed satellite imagery and other publicly available material, found the coalition fired vast numbers of imprecise explosive weapons in populated areas.

Amnesty has written to defence officials in the United States, Britain and France -– whose forces carried out the air strikes over Raqa -– seeking additional information about these cases and about other attacks, it said.

“When so many civilians are killed in attack after attack, something is clearly wrong, and to make this tragedy worse, so many months later the incidents have not been investigated,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s senior crisis response adviser. “The victims deserve justice.”

Coalition spokesman U.S. Army Colonel Sean Ryan told Britain’s Press Association that Amnesty International U.K. director Kate Allen should “leave the comforts of the U.K.” and travel to Iraq and Syria to see how coalitions forces were “fighting an enemy that does not abide by any laws, norms or human concern.”

He insisted the coalition made “painstaking efforts” to assess allegations of civilian casualties and any “non-combatant death or injury is a tragedy.”

Despite @amnesty’s allegations on @CJTFOIR conduct, they never discussed the article w/us & didn’t thoroughly research things we said. They failed to check the public record & get facts straight. We are open to criticism, but they didn’t make the effort to understand what we do

— OIR Spokesman (@OIRSpox) June 5, 2018

A spokesman for the U.K. Ministry of Defense said it had been “open and transparent” over its nearly 1,700 Syrian strikes.

“We do everything we can to minimise the risk to civilian life,” he added. “We must accept that the risk of inadvertent civilian casualties is ever present.”

Two Mass Graves Found in Syria’s Raqqa After Liberation from ISIS

Share1Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Syrian rescuers and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on February 6, 2023. Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building
World

Quake Kills Over 1,200 Across Turkey, Syria

by Staff Writer
February 6, 2023
Bashar Assad
Middle East

Syria Frees 60 Prisoners in Presidential Amnesty: Monitor

by Staff Writer
May 3, 2022
US Syria raid
Middle East

ISIS Chief Blows Himself Up During US Raid in Syria

by Staff Writer
February 3, 2022
Syrian colonel trial
World

Germany Convicts Syrian Ex-Colonel in ‘Historic’ Torture Trial

by Staff Writer
January 13, 2022
Syrian children play at a makeshift camp for displaced people
Middle East

62 Children Died in NE Syria Camp This Year: Report

by Staff Writer
September 23, 2021
Syrian border
Middle East

Cross-Border Aid to Syria Will End, Says Russian Ambassador to UN

by Staff Writer
June 30, 2021
Next Post
Plastic bags stuck in trees in Vietnam

UN: World is Choking on Plastic Amid Growing Environmental Crisis

Brazilian police car

Half Million Killed in Brazil's Deadly Decade [Study]

Recommended

A man holds US, Taiwan flags

US and Taiwan Ink Trade Deal as China Issues Warning

June 2, 2023
Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023

Opinion

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post