Research

All major publications from Airwars’ documentation, research, investigations and policy teams

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22 Aug, 2016
Update

International airstrikes and civilian casualty claims in Iraq and Syria: July 2016

Additional research by Kinda Haddad, Latif Habib, Abdulwahab Tahhan, Ziad Freeman, Basile Simon, Christiaan Triebert and Chris Woods In July the Coalition campaign to liberate the northern Syrian town of Manbij in Aleppo built towards a fierce conclusion. Daesh continued to lose ground, but the effect on civilian casualties was significant. We tracked the greatest […]
22 Aug, 2016
Research

International airstrikes and civilian casualty claims in Iraq and Syria: July 2016

In July the Coalition campaign to liberate the northern Syrian town of Manbij in Aleppo built towards a fierce conclusion. Daesh continued to lose ground, but the effect on civilian casualties was significant. We tracked the greatest number of alleged deaths and incidents in any given month since the war began two years ago – […]
8 Aug, 2016
Update

Second anniversary of Coalition war sees ISIL under pressure – but civilians at greater risk

Research by Latif Habib, Kinda Haddad, Alex Hopkins, Basile Simon and Christiaan Triebert The US-led Coalition enters the third year of its war against so-called Islamic State having already conducted more than 14,300 airstrikes against the terror group – and with thousands of ground forces also now committed. ISIL is under significant pressure on multiple […]
8 Aug, 2016
Update

Second anniversary of Coalition war sees ISIL under pressure – but civilians at greater risk

Research by Latif Habib, Kinda Haddad, Alex Hopkins, Basile Simon and Christiaan Triebert The US-led Coalition enters the third year of its war against so-called Islamic State having already conducted more than 14,300 airstrikes against the terror group – and with thousands of ground forces also now committed. ISIL is under significant pressure on multiple […]
5 Aug, 2016
Update

Libya: international airstrikes and alleged civilian casualties

Below are all known published US military reports relating to the air war against so called Islamic State or Daesh in Libya. Operation Odyssey Lightning began on August 1st 2016. A small number of admitted US strikes against ISIL also preceded the campaign. In addition a number of airstrikes by unknown parties – possibly international […]
2 Aug, 2016
Update

Military reports – August 2016

Monthly summary: Below are all known published daily Coalition military reports relating to the air war against so called Islamic State or Daesh in Iraq and Syria for August 2016. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as cross-indicating where any known alleged civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties have been reported. August […]
28 Jul, 2016
Update

CENTCOM confirms 14 new civilian deaths in ISIL war

Research by Latif Habib and Kinda Haddad CENTCOM has conceded 14 additional civilian deaths from US military actions in the war against so-called Islamic State, in both Iraq and Syria. The admission brings to 55 the official tally of civilian dead, from more than 10,700 declared US airstrikes. The newly-admitted deaths relate to six events between July 2015 […]
28 Jul, 2016
Update

CENTCOM confirms 14 new civilian deaths in ISIL war

Research by Latif Habib and Kinda Haddad CENTCOM has conceded 14 additional civilian deaths from US military actions in the war against so-called Islamic State, in both Iraq and Syria. The admission brings to 55 the official tally of civilian dead, from more than 10,700 declared US airstrikes. The newly-admitted deaths relate to six events between July 2015 […]
22 Jul, 2016
Update

International airstrikes and civilian casualty claims in Iraq and Syria: June 2016

Additional research by Kinda Haddad, Latif Habib, Basile Simon, Christiaan Triebert and Chris Woods Daesh lost significant ground in June, with the liberation of Fallujah in Iraq and the ongoing battle for Manbij in Syria. However, this led to a steep rise in alleged civilian casualties involving the Coalition in both countries – while in […]
22 Jul, 2016
Research

International airstrikes and civilian casualty claims in Iraq and Syria: June 2016

Daesh lost significant ground in June, with the liberation of Fallujah in Iraq and the ongoing battle for Manbij in Syria. However, this led to a steep rise in alleged civilian casualties involving the Coalition in both countries – while in Syria, we saw a quadrupling of the number of civilian casualty events reportedly involving […]
19 Jul, 2016
Update

Coalition-backed Manbij assault has killed hundreds of civilians, warn locals

Research by Kinda Haddad A major Coalition-backed campaign to liberate the ISIL-occupied northern Syrian town of Manbij and surrounding villages has led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians, according to local reports. The Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC) – a proxy US-trained force comprising mostly Kurdish fighters – is currently advancing on the town centre […]
19 Jul, 2016
Update

Coalition-backed Manbij assault has killed hundreds of civilians, warn locals

Research by Kinda Haddad A major Coalition-backed campaign to liberate the ISIL-occupied northern Syrian town of Manbij and surrounding villages has led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians, according to local reports. The Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC) – a proxy US-trained force comprising mostly Kurdish fighters – is currently advancing on the town centre […]
2 Jul, 2016
Update

Military reports – July 2016

Monthly summary: Below are all known published daily Coalition military reports relating to the air war against so called Islamic State or Daesh in Iraq and Syria for July 2016. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as cross-indicating where any known alleged civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties have been reported. July […]
1 Jul, 2016
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Why White House civilian casualty figures on civilian are a wild underestimate

Chris Woods set up the Bureau’s award-winning Drones Project in 2011, and is the author of Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars. He now runs Airwars, which monitors international airstrikes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria. Targeted killings or assassinations beyond the battlefield remain a highly charged subject. Most controversial of all is the number of […]
1 Jul, 2016
Update
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen

Obama drone casualty numbers a fraction of those recorded by the Bureau

The US government today claimed it has killed between 64 and 116 “non-combatants” in 473 counter-terrorism strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya between January 2009 and the end of 2015. This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and […]
17 Jun, 2016
Update

International airstrikes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria: December 2015 to May 2016

Additional reporting by Kinda Haddad, Latif Habib and Chris Woods Airwars monthly reports on international airstrikes and alleged civilian casualties across both Iraq and Syria will resume for June . Here we present our summary findings for December 2015 to May 2016. Major Coalition military developments From December 1st 2015 to the end of May […]
17 Jun, 2016
Research

International airstrikes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria: December 2015 to May 2016

Airwars monthly reports on international airstrikes and alleged civilian casualties across both Iraq and Syria will resume for June . Here we present our summary findings for December 2015 to May 2016. Major Coalition military developments From December 1st 2015 to the end of May 2016, there were 4,087 reported Coalition airstrikes against Daesh: a […]
2 Jun, 2016
Update

Military reports – June 2016

Monthly summary: Below are all known published daily Coalition military reports relating to the air war against Islamic State/ Daesh in Iraq and Syria for June 2016. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as cross-indicating where any known alleged civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties have been reported.   June 1st-2nd 2016 […]
2 May, 2016
Update

Military reports – May 2016

Monthly summary: Below are all known published daily Coalition military reports relating to the air war against Islamic State/ Daesh in Iraq and Syria for May 2016. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as cross-indicating where any known alleged civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties have been reported. May 1st – May […]
1 May, 2016
Report

Improving Belgian transparency and public accountability in the war against Daesh

As Brussels debated whether to extend airstrikes to Syria, we submitted a short report to parliament urging improved public transparency. The report concluded that “The act of waging war rightly places onerous responsibilities upon all combatants. It is surely right not only that nations are held accountable for their military actions – but that they […]
27 Apr, 2016
Update

Our methodology

Airwars is a collaborative, not-for-profit transparency project run by a team of professional journalists based in the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and North America. We track and assess claims of civilian non-combatant casualties and ‘friendly fire’ deaths from international military actions – primarily air and artillery strikes. We also monitor and archive official military […]
22 Apr, 2016
Update

Two families likely among 20 new civilian deaths admitted by US in war against ISIL

In a doubling of previous estimates of civilians killed in its air war against so-called Islamic State, the US has confirmed that 20 more non-combatants are believed to have died and 11 injured in nine separate events between September 2015 and February 2016. Among those likely killed were two Iraqi families. On October 5th, US […]
22 Apr, 2016
Update

Two families likely among 20 new civilian deaths admitted by US in war against ISIL

In a doubling of previous estimates of civilians killed in its air war against so-called Islamic State, the US has confirmed that 20 more non-combatants are believed to have died and 11 injured in nine separate events between September 2015 and February 2016. Among those likely killed were two Iraqi families. On October 5th, US […]
2 Apr, 2016
Update

Military reports – April 2016

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily Coalition military reports relating to the air war against Islamic State/ Daesh in Iraq and Syria for April 2016. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where any known alleged civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties have been reported. April 1st-April 2nd 2016 Iraq 20 […]
22 Mar, 2016
Update

Alleged civilian casualties from Russian airstrikes in Syria

Airwars maintains an extensive database of all known allegations in which civilians have been reported killed by Russian forces in Syrian casualty events since September 30th 2015. Our published month by month records include a case report on each known alleged event; photographs, videos, names of the dead where known; archived links to all known […]
14 Mar, 2016
Report
Syria

A Reckless Disregard for Civilian Lives: Russian airstrikes in Syria

Our analysis of Russian airstrikes in Syria between September 30th and December 31st 2015 found that despite Moscow’s continuing assertions that no civilians have been killed in its ongoing Syrian air war, there were credible indications from open source reporting that to December 31st 2015 only, between 1,098 and 1,450 non-combatants had likely died in […]
11 Mar, 2016
Update

Reported civilian deaths from Russian airstrikes in Syria December 2015

Listed are all known reports – via generally credible sources unless otherwise indicated – of non-combatant deaths allegedly caused by Russian aircraft in Syria for December 2015. We include locations, dates and reported casualty numbers, as well as the names of victims where known. Also cross-referenced are any known airstrikes in the vicinity – and […]
11 Mar, 2016
Update

Reported civilian deaths from Russian airstrikes in Syria November 2015

In the course of the last three days, aircraft of the Russian air group in the Syrian Arab Republic have performed 137 combat sorties engaging 448 terrorist objects in the Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Lattakia, Raqqah, Hama and Homs provinces.  Listed are all known reports – via generally credible sources unless otherwise indicated – of non-combatant […]
11 Mar, 2016
Update

Reported civilian deaths from Russian airstrikes in Syria October 2015

Listed are all known reports – via generally credible sources unless otherwise indicated – of non-combatant deaths allegedly caused by Russian aircraft in Syria for October 2015. We include locations, dates and reported casualty numbers, as well as the names of victims where known. Also cross-referenced are any known airstrikes in the vicinity – and […]
11 Mar, 2016
Update

Reported civilian deaths from Russian airstrikes in Syria September 2015

Listed are all known reports – via generally credible sources unless otherwise indicated – of non-combatant deaths allegedly caused by Russian aircraft in Syria for September 2015. As Russian airstrikes only began on September 30th, only one day is included.  We include reported locations, dates and reported casualty numbers, as well as the names of […]