U.S. reviews videos in Mosul inquiry
Civilian deaths up sharply this year as Central Command tries ‘to get the facts’
The U.S. military is examining about 700 surveillance videos as it investigates allegations that a March 17 airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition caused the deaths of 100 or more civilians in the besieged Iraqi city of Mosul.
“We are trying to get the facts,” said Col. John Thomas, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.
The investigation will look at videos of bombs and other munitions dropped within a 10-day period in a section of west Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces are pushing Islamic State militants out of their last remaining stronghold in the country. The Iraqi government said as many as 200 civilians may have been killed in a strike on a building, which would make it the worst incident involving civilian deaths since the air campaign against the militants began in 2014.
Even before the strike, the number of allegations of civilian casualties in the air campaign has increased significantly this year. The U.S.-led coalition received 27 reports of incidents involving civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria in January, up from 12 in December, according to the most recent statistics. Nineteen reported incidents are still being assessed.
The reports come as the coalition has expanded its airstrikes in support of ground forces fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The recent focus has been to support offensives in Mosul and Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria. As the ground fighting intensifies, airstrikes have increased.
During last year’s campaign, President Trump advocated more aggressive tactics against the Islamic State, but the Pentagon said the military is operating under the same rules set by President Barack Obama to minimize civilian casualties.
The U.S. military has confirmed 220 civilian deaths since the start of the air campaign in 2014, according to military statistics.
“There is no military force in the world that has proven more sensitive to civilian casualties,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday.
Mattis said ISIS frequently uses women and children as “human shields” to avoid being targeted by coalition airstrikes. “We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people,” Mattis said. “The same cannot be said for our adversaries.”
Iraq’s military issued a statement saying that the March 17 deaths were caused by the Islamic State, which frequently booby traps entire buildings and regularly uses civilians as “human shields” to avoid coalition airstrikes.