UK airstrikes that harmed militants in Iraq and Syria 2014–2021
Airwars documents every UK airstrike which the Ministry of Defence claim killed militants over seven years
In 2014, the UK joined the Global Coalition Against Daesh/ISIS. While the Coalition has admitted to killing 1,437 civilians in Iraq and Syria, the UK has only admitted one. This map details the scale and extent of Britain’s bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria.
Through Freedom of Information Act requests, Airwars obtained the details of every strike in which the Ministry of Defence claimed a militant was killed or injured, between 2014 and 2021 in Iraq and Syria.* Airwars requested the date, location and weapon type used in every strike under the auspices of Operation Shader, the UK’s term for its involvement in the Coalition. For every strike entry, researchers analysed its details, and looked to find the corroborating MoD strike report. These typically contained basic details about the strike – including the intended target, rough location and munition used.
Airwars researchers then reviewed each narrative report to find the sentence or phrase which indicated which strike in our FOIA was likely being referred to. Click on the arrows on the right hand side of the map to view these. This enabled Airwars to identify which strikes took place on the same location and day as credible allegations of civilian casualties caused by the Coalition.
Use the map and timeline to navigate the details of these strikes. Almost all locations are based on approximate geocodes, as the MoD did not provide more specific locations. Strikes that had a matching civilian casualty report often had a precise geolocation released to Airwars after reviews by the Coalition. You can view these geolocations here.
- * Some strikes released to us report zero militants killed, or zero militants injured. There are some strikes – such as alleged targeted killings including the high-profile case of Reyaad Khan in 2015 – that were not included in the data provided by the MoD.