Research

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

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793 posts
11 Nov, 2019
Update

Airwars marks five years of tracking civilian harm

November 11th 2019 marks the fifth anniversary of Airwars – the international not for profit which monitors civilian harm on the battlefield, and seeks to reduce conflict casualty numbers. November 11th is recognised globally, as Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and Veterans Day. It was also the date on which the name Airwars was registered by […]
22 Oct, 2019
Update
Iraq

Investigation accuses Dutch military of involvement in 2015 Iraq airstrike which led to deaths of 70 civilians

On Friday October 18th, Dutch news organisations NRC and NOS published a story in which they accused the Dutch military of being responsible for a 2015 airstrike on an ISIS weapon storage facility in the city of Hawijah, Iraq, that led to the deaths of at least 70 civilians. The Dutch Ministry of Defence has […]
18 Oct, 2019
Update
Syria, Türkiye

Civilians severely at risk from Turkish invasion of Northern Syria

Airwars monitors locally reported civilian harm from all Turkish air and artillery strikes in Iraq and Syria, as well as from Kurdish counterfire actions. Our database can be found here. More than 120 civilian deaths have been locally alleged in eight days of fighting in northern Syria to October 16th, following a Turkish-led offensive, ‘Operation […]
30 Sep, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – August 2019

More than 200 civilians were locally alleged killed by Russia in Syria during August - with concerns too about Coalition counter terror raids.
27 Sep, 2019
Update

Vienna Conference on Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare

Dmytro Chupryna, Airwars Deputy Director is attending the Vienna Conference on Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare. As part of our membership of the International Network on Explosive Weapons – which seeks a ban of wide area effect  munition use in urban areas – Airwars will contribute to a discussion on the various forms of harm […]
25 Sep, 2019
Update
Libya

Increasing foreign role risks spiralling Libya conflict out of control

Foreign powers are increasingly being drawn into Libya’s civil war – with lethal air strikes reportedly carried out by at least two other nations, and with Libya’s two rival governments both hiring foreign mercenary pilots, and receiving shipments of weapons from abroad. Experts are warning that an internationalising of the conflict may further destabilize the […]
30 Aug, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – July 2019

As many as 432 civilians were claimed killed by Russian forces in Syria during July - as the bombardment of Idlib and Hama governorates intensified.
7 Aug, 2019
Update
Iraq, Syria

Five years of war and ISIS is defeated as a territorial entity – but civilian deaths remain largely uncounted

The fifth anniversary of the international war against so-called Islamic State has seen the total defeat of the terrorist group as a territorial entity in both Iraq and Syria. Now degraded to insurgency, the US and its allies try to contain the jihadist organisation. However, after five years of fighting the cost to civilians on […]
1 Aug, 2019
Research

Airwars six monthly assessment: January-June 2019

The first six months of 2019 saw at least 800 civilians locally alleged killed by Russian and US-led Coalition forces in Syria - while Libya's civil war continued to escalate.
16 Jul, 2019
Update
Iraq, Syria

New Airwars study finds major challenges in US media coverage of civilian harm

Despite a significant majority of almost 100 surveyed journalists believing that the reporting of civilian casualties remains critical to broader war coverage, major US news organisations have too often failed properly to report on the issue during the five year conflict against so-called Islamic State. That’s the key finding of a major new Airwars study […]
12 Jul, 2019
Update

Reporting on Civilian Casualties in the War Against ISIS

Airwars Director Chris Woods and report author Alexa O’Brien are presenting at the launch of the new Airwars report ‘News in Brief: US Media Coverage of Civilian Harm in the War Against ISIS’ in Washington DC. Authored by investigative journalist Alexa O’Brien, the report draws on new research and interviews with reporters at major US […]
10 Jul, 2019
Research

News In Brief: US media coverage of civilian harm in the war against ISIS

A major new report from Airwars examining US media coverage of civilian harm in the war against ISIS - with recommendations to editors for improvements.
9 Jul, 2019
Update

Freedom Across Borders

Dmytro Chupryna, Airwars Deputy Director is speaking at a conference ‘Freedom Across Borders’, organised by Syria Solidarity UK with Amnesty International UK – with the aim of discussing how human rights activism on one conflict can inform and support work on another. Airwars will contribute to a discussion on military accountability, focusing on what can […]
28 Jun, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – May 2019

Allegations of civilian harm against Moscow were up 300% during May - as Idlib came under fierce attack from the Assad government and its Russian allies.
21 Jun, 2019
Update

Security Policy Alternatives

Dmytro Chupryna, Airwars Deputy Director is attending a conference ‘Security Policy Alternatives’: Convening civil society to explore collaborative international engagement on security interventions & counter-terrorism’, organised by Saferworld and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Airwars will contribute to the discussion on the collaborative action by civil society to challenge securitised responses to crises and threats, and promote […]
30 May, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – April 2019

Following the capture of Al Baghouz and the defeat of ISIS as a territorial entity on March 23rd, US-led Coalition air and artillery strikes in Syria effectively stopped, while actions in Iraq have also heavily declined in recent months. Consequently, Airwars has not tracked a civilian casualty event in Syria assessed as likely caused by […]
17 May, 2019
Update

The UK’s Role in Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

Dmytro Chupryna and Chloe Skinner, Airwars respective Deputy Director and UK based Conflict Researcher and Advocacy Officer, are attending a roundtable discussion on ‘The UK’s Role in Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict’, hosted by Save the Children and the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute. The discussion will be attended by representatives […]
10 May, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – March 2019

Conflict monitoring After 56 months of war, March finally saw the defeat of ISIS as a territorial entity when the town of Al Baghouz in Deir Ezzor governorate fell to Coalition-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on March 23rd. However, this final intense month of fighting came at what appeared to be significant cost to civilians on […]
2 May, 2019
Update
Afghanistan, Somalia

Pentagon report: 120 civilians killed in operations abroad

American military operations killed 120 civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia last year, according to a report released by the Pentagon today. The report, mandated by Congress, contains a detailed breakdown of the incidents that led to the civilian casualties, including where and when these took place. This differs from last year’s release which […]
1 May, 2019
Update
Iraq, Syria

France’s war without accountability

On May 16th 2017, Sajid Ahmed Sajid and his brother Amer Ahmad Sajid, two men in their fifties and each with a salt and pepper beard, were killed by a bomb that struck their house in the well-to-do neighbourhood of Al-Najjar in West Mosul, according to locals and local media. The Coalition’s public account of […]
25 Apr, 2019
Update
Iraq, Syria

At least 1,600 civilians died in US-led Coalition actions at Raqqa, major new study finds

A major new study by Amnesty International and Airwars has concluded that at least 1,600 civilians died in Coalition strikes on the city of Raqqa in 2017 during the battle to evict so-called Islamic State – ten times the number of fatalities so far conceded by the US-led alliance, which had admitted 159 deaths to […]
24 Apr, 2019
Update

New Reporting Frontiers: OSI, Airstrikes and Civilian Harm

Airwars Director Chris Woods is presenting at the Frontline Club talk ‘New Reporting Frontiers: OSI, Airstrikes and Civilian Harm’ alongside with world’s leading Open Source Investigations teams to discuss the groundbreaking techniques being used to support and strengthen reporting of civilian harm in conflicts worldwide. From the Skripal poisoning to the Battle of Mosul, Open […]
15 Apr, 2019
Update
Libya

Civilians in peril as rival air forces target Tripoli

A major offensive on the Libyan capital Tripoli by Marshal Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has already seen dozens of civilians locally reported killed – with the United Nations warning that “Civilian casualties and displacement are expected to increase further given the continued use of air strikes and heavy artillery.” Haftar’s assault on Tripoli – […]
10 Apr, 2019
Update
Iraq, Libya, Syria

Airwars expands monitoring to include secretive US campaigns in Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan

Airwars has announced that in partnership with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, it will also now be monitoring airstrikes and reported civilian harm from secretive US campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, in addition to its current portfolio of major conflicts. The US counter terrorism campaigns – conducted by the CIA and US Special Forces […]
8 Apr, 2019
Research

Airwars monthtly assessment – February 2019

Conflict monitoring During February, civilian harm claims against the US-led Coalition in Syria continued to be a major problem. The month saw several alarming large-scale casualty incidents in the town of Baghouz – the last territorial holdout in Syria for so-called Islamic State (ISIS) – meaning that the likely death toll from Coalition actions in […]
19 Mar, 2019
Report

Airwars interim better practice recommendations in response to US military assessments of civilian harm

Responding to an ongoing US Department of Defense review process on civilian harm mitigation, Airwars submitted a short interim briefing paper outlining 25 better practice recommendations. These were based primarily on our granular engagement with civilian casualty assessment cells within the US military over several years. Our recommendations ranged from the US military ensuring wherever […]
8 Mar, 2019
Update

Germany’s involvement in the Anti-IS Coalition: the air strike on Al-Badhiya IDP-Shelter in Syria

Maike Awater, Airwars’ Netherland based Advocacy Officer and Conflict Researcher presents at a panel discussion commemorating the second anniversary of the Al-Badhiya air strike’s in Syria. The most worst known air strike of the Anti-IS Coalition with over 150 civilian casualties took place on 20 March 2017 when it targeted a shelter for internally displaced […]
4 Mar, 2019
Update

The human cost of airstrikes: are we counting civilian deaths?

Airwars Director Chris Woods is presenting at the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Drones session ‘The human cost of airstrikes: are we counting civilian deaths?’ The Ministry of Defence has been the second-largest contributor to the anti-ISIS Coalition. However, in over 1900 strikes in Iraq and Syria from 2014-2018, it has reported only one civilian […]
4 Mar, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – January 2019

Conflict monitoring In January 2019, the noose further tightened around ISIS in the last remaining scraps of territory it held in Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate. By February 5th, there were an it was claimewd as few as 1,000 fighters in ISIS’s stronghold within a 20-sqaure-mile area near the southern Euphrates Rivers and the Iraqi border, […]
5 Feb, 2019
Update
Iraq, Syria

New Airwars project to examine US media coverage of civilian harm in war against ISIS

Hundreds of journalists will be canvassed for their views on recent conflict casualty reporting by the US media as part of a major new project by Airwars. The six month study—funded by the Reva and David Logan Foundation in the US, and the J Leon Philanthropy Council in the UK—aims to help assess and improve […]