{"id":41686,"date":"2016-10-10T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T00:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/news_and_analysis\/airwars-boosts-monitoring-reporting-and-advocacy-team\/"},"modified":"2016-10-10T00:01:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T00:01:51","slug":"airwars-boosts-monitoring-reporting-and-advocacy-team","status":"publish","type":"news_and_analysis","link":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/news\/airwars-boosts-monitoring-reporting-and-advocacy-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Airwars boosts its monitoring, reporting and advocacy team"},"content":{"rendered":"
Responding to a steep rise in reported civilian deaths from both Coalition and Russian airstrikes in 2016, Airwars has appointed three new full-time postholders who will help with the organisation’s monitoring, reporting and advocacy work.<\/p>\n
The trio are New York based investigative reporter Samuel Oakford; UK-based Syria researcher Abdulwahab Tahhan; and Eline Westra, an Amsterdam-based researcher focused on Dutch and Belgian airstrikes and transparency.<\/p>\n
The new appointments – funded by the Open Society Foundations<\/a><\/span> and the Dutch Democracy and Media Foundation<\/a><\/span> – mean Airwars now has eight full and part time staff in five countries monitoring international airstrikes and civilian casualties in Iraq, Syria and Libya.<\/p>\n Samuel Oakford joins Airwars as its first full time investigative reporter<\/p><\/div>\n Samuel Oakford<\/strong> is an investigative journalist based in New York City. His work focuses primarily on diplomacy, peacekeeping<\/a><\/span> and human rights issues, particularly civilians in conflict<\/a><\/span>. For two years Sam was VICE News\u2019 United Nations correspondent, where he broke a number of stories<\/a><\/span> on conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Burundi, and South Sudan.<\/p>\n Sam was also one of the first journalists to hold a microscope to Washington\u2019s backing of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen<\/a><\/span>, publishing details of civilian casualties; Saudi threats to aid workers and the UN; and efforts to block human rights inquiries in Yemen.<\/p>\n Samuel\u2019s work often looks at the phenomenon of \u201ccoalition\u201d interventions and what that means for transparency, accountability and justice for civilian victims. In Iraq and Syria<\/a><\/span>, he has applied this lens to anti-ISIL operations and reported on civilian casualties from US-led Coalition attacks, as well as Russian bombings.<\/p>\n Samuel\u2019s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic Magazine, Politico Magazine, the Intercept, IRIN News and IPS News. Prior to becoming a journalist, he worked for several years as a cartographer and researcher.<\/p>\n Refugee Abdulwahab Tahhan joins Airwars as a full time researcher, focused on international airstrikes in Syria<\/p><\/div>\n Abulwahab Tahhan<\/strong> was raised in Aleppo, Syria, where he studied English at university. A refugee from the civil war, he worked\u00a0 in Turkey for Cultures of Resistance helping make the film The Suffering Grasses<\/a><\/span> – a documentary about Syrian refugees which went on to win six awards.<\/p>\n Abdulwahab eventually made his way to the UK where he was awarded refugee status. He obtained a Masters in Applied Linguistics at Southampton University, where he also worked as a volunteer researcher for Amnesty<\/span> International.<\/p>\n<\/a>
<\/a>