The Credibles

Following more than three years of extensive engagement with US military officials, Airwars has secured the precise locations of all but four of the 344 publicly confirmed (‘Credible’) Coalition civilian harm events in the war against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria, which between them represent the great majority of at least 1,410 conceded civilian deaths according to CJTFOIR – and at least 2,024 fatalities according to Airwars.

These located events represent the most accurate and comprehensive data ever publicly revealed by the US military about the harm it causes in war. In a significant number of these events, precise cross matching reveals exactly which civilians died, when and where. Given sometimes limited on-the-ground reporting by local communities during the heat of battle, other cases have only been revealed due to US pilots and analysts coming forward and flagging concerns. This new locational data ensures that these events can now be properly investigated.

Explaining its decision to release the complete data, the Coalition’s former chief spokesman Col. Myles Caggins told Airwars: “We take every allegation of civilian casualties with the utmost sincerity, concern, and diligence; we see the addition of the geolocations as a testament to transparency, and our commitment to working with agencies like Airwars to correctly identify civilian harm incidents.”

There are substantial implications for the Credibles dataset. For the first time, Iraqis and Syrians can now know which confirmed events their loved ones were, or were not, harmed in. The decision by the Pentagon to release all close locational data also sets new better practice standards for other US conflicts, such as Afghanistan. And the US’s key military partners have a key transparency benchmark to aspire to.

Use the map and moveable timeline to explore specific events. Locations and victim names can be searched in both Arabic and English.