Research

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

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231 posts
4 Apr, 2023
Update
Iraq, Syria

يكشف تحقيق مشترك لـ الحروب الجوية مع الجارديان عن سقوط ضحايا مدنيين جراء غارات جوية بريطانية

قضت الحروب الجوية و الجارديان العام الماضي في التحقيق في الغارات الجوية البريطانية في العراق وسوريا ، بين عامي 2014 و 2020. ووجدنا أدلة على ما لا يقل عن ست غارات جوية وقعت في الموصل ، يُرجح أنها كانت هجمات بريطانية ، قتلت وألحقت الأذى بالمدنيين في المدينة.
1 Feb, 2023
Policy, Research
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen

US airstrikes fell to historic low in 2022, despite fresh operations

The overall number of declared US airstrikes across all monitored military theatres fell from 441 in 2021 to a minimum of 36 in 2022
10 Aug, 2021
Research
Iraq, Syria

International war against ISIS enters its eighth year

This article was originally published by The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft on August 8th 2021. For the little media coverage it receives these days, you might be forgiven for believing the US-led coalition’s war in Syria and Iraq to be over. Osama Al-Hamid’s family knows better. Last month, the young boy died during reported […]
2 Mar, 2021
Report

Annual report – 2020/21

Tracking by Airwars across multiple conflicts during 2020 showed that the number of locally reported civilian deaths from the use of explosive weapons was down by two thirds compared to the previous year. Of these fatalities, around half were in the first two months of 2020. This suggested a possible ‘Covid effect’ – a significant […]
7 Aug, 2020
Update
Iraq

Six years after the war against ISIS began, where now for Iraqis?

On the fateful evening of August 7th 2014, then-US President Barack Obama gave a live address to the nation announcing the beginning of military actions in Iraq against so-called Islamic State (also known as ISIS and Daesh), ushering in a new era of US involvement. The following day, US Navy F-18 Hornet fighters launched the […]
11 Feb, 2020
Policy
Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Türkiye, Yemen

Airwars annual report: over 2,200 civilians claimed killed in 2019

Airwars research shows that at least 2,214 civilians were locally alleged killed by international military actions across Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia during 2019 – a 42% decrease in minimum claimed deaths on the previous year. This sharp fall was largely because deaths from reported US-led Coalition actions plummeted following the territorial defeat of ISIS […]
11 Feb, 2020
Report

Annual report – 2019/20

Civilian deaths from Russian actions in Syria dominated Airwars monitoring following the defeat of ISIS in March 2019.
6 Feb, 2020
Policy
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria

Dutch F-16 pilots break their silence on airstrikes and civilian harm

  “After a few months, it turned out that it had indeed been a wrong target. An error had been made in the intelligence process. Instead of being an ISIS target, it turned out to just be a house. A mix-up in targets. You think: shit, it’s not possible, is it? I felt sick when […]
23 Dec, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – November 2019

November 2019 saw a quadrupling in civilian harm claims against Russia and the regime in Syria
10 Dec, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – October 2019

More than 200 civilians were locally alleged killed by Turkish and Kurdish military actions in Syria during October. Civilian deaths were also significantly up in Libya.
29 Nov, 2019
Policy
Iraq

Dutch Ministry of Defence promises significant transparency changes

The Dutch government is promising to introduce transparency improvements for conflict-related civilian harm resulting from its military actions. The announcement came on November 25th, in the wake of an ongoing national scandal, following the withholding for more than four years of details of Dutch involvement in an airstrike on Hawijah, Iraq, on the night of […]
25 Nov, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – September 2019

During September 2019 reported civilian harm from military actions was down in both Syria and Libya.
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 […]
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.
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.
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
31 Jan, 2019
Research

Airwars annual assessment 2018

Despite significant falls in both strike numbers and reported casualties, civilians still remained at risk in the three conflict-affected nations presently monitored by Airwars. In total, as many as 5,947 non combatants were locally alleged killed by international military actions across Syria, Iraq and Libya during 2018. In Libya reported airstrikes were down by a […]
10 Jan, 2019
Update
Iraq, Syria

Time for proper accountability now that Dutch aircraft and military personnel are home

On December 31st 2018, the participation of Netherlands F-16s in the international fight against so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria came to an agreed end, after almost four years of airstrikes. Despite conducting precision airstrikes, the Coalition has not always been successful in preventing civilian casualties – with the alliance overall admitting at […]
4 Jan, 2019
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – November 2018

Conflict monitoring In November, Airwars tracked the highest reported civilian death toll from alleged Coalition actions since the fall of Raqqa in October 2017. As the terrorist group clung on to a handful of villages in Deir Ezzor and the Hajin campaign rolled into its third month, Coalition actions rose by 32% on October with […]
30 Nov, 2018
Research

Airwars monthly assessment – October 2018

Conflict monitoring Airwars tracked no locally reported claims of civilian harm in Syria from Russian actions during October – the first such month since Moscow first intervened three years previously. US-led Coalition strikes against ISIS continued however, with a significant and troubling rise in reported civilian harm in eastern Syria. October saw a near tripling […]