{"id":41718,"date":"2015-06-07T17:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/news_and_analysis\/coalition-airstrikes-and-casualties-in-iraq-and-syria-may-29th-june-5th-2015\/"},"modified":"2023-10-03T09:01:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T09:01:09","slug":"coalition-airstrikes-and-casualties-in-iraq-and-syria-may-29th-june-5th-2015","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/research\/coalition-airstrikes-and-casualties-in-iraq-and-syria-may-29th-june-5th-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition airstrikes and casualties in Iraq and Syria: May 29th-June 5th 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>ABOVE: Scene of devastation at the town of al Hawijah near Kirkuk, Iraq after a US airstrike destroyed a Daesh IED factory<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Major Developments<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>In single greatest claim of coalition-inflicted civilian deaths since August, up to 70 non-combatants are reported killed in an airstrike on Iraqi town of al-Hawijah<\/li>\n<li>Coalition denies it has seen evidence of civilian deaths at al Hawijah &#8211; but insists that if they occurred, &#8220;<em>responsibility rests squarely on Daesh<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>With 677 airstrikes reported by coalition across Iraq (70%) and Syria (30%), May 2015 represents most intense month of bombing yet<\/li>\n<li>Syrian casualty recorders place number of civilians killed by coalition in May at between 68 and 75. And Iraq Body Count reports 23 non-combatants killed<\/li>\n<li>US insists every allegation of civilian deaths being looked into &#8211; but that\u00a0&#8220;<em>there aren&#8217;t big numbers<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>\u00a0Civilian casualties<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>Only one new event was added this week, a devastating coalition strike on the town of al Hawijah on June 3rd. Estimates vary, though most Iraqi sources insisted that up to 70 non-combatants died.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.defense.gov\/Transcripts\/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=5637\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to<\/a> the coalition&#8217;s Lt General Hesterman, &#8220;<em>after a very disciplined targeting process, we dropped a fairly small weapon on a known IED building in an industrial area. \u00a0The secondary explosion, which was caused from a massive amount of Daesh high explosives, was very large, and it destroyed much of that industrial area.<\/em>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1232\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/11390123_445277585640759_1725629724313248606_n-Huwaija.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1232\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1232\" src=\"http:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/11390123_445277585640759_1725629724313248606_n-Huwaija-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Devastation in Huwaija following coalition strike June 3 2015 (Iraqi Spring)\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/11390123_445277585640759_1725629724313248606_n-Huwaija-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/11390123_445277585640759_1725629724313248606_n-Huwaija.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1232\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devastation in Huwaija following coalition strike June 3 2015 (Iraqi Spring)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hesterman claimed the coalition had seen &#8220;&#8221;<em>no evidence<\/em>&#8221; of civilian deaths. He insisted that if they had occurred, the blame lay with ISIL: &#8220;<em>Let&#8217;s be clear. \u00a0What did the damage was a huge amount of high explosives that Daesh intended to turn into murderous weapons to kill Iraqi forces and innocent civilians. \u00a0If there&#8217;re unintended injuries, that responsibility rests squarely on Daesh.<\/em>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The head of Kirkuk&#8217;s Arab Council,\u00a0Mohammed Khalil al-Jubouri, placed the <a href=\"http:\/\/almadapress.com\/ar\/news\/49599\/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-%D9%88%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%A6%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B4-%D9%88150-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">number of dead and injured civilians at 150<\/a>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The Iraqi Revolution site claimed that 70 civilians had died, with more than 100 injured. Rudaw also reported 70 killed, describing 26 children and 22 women among the dead.<\/p>\n<p>Eyewitness\u00a0Hassan Mahmoud al-Jubbouri <a href=\"http:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/2015\/06\/04\/uk-mideast-crisis-idUKKBN0OK27A20150604\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told Reuters<\/a> that the area looked as if it had been hit by a nuclear bomb, and described pulling the bodies of a family of six from the rubble.<\/p>\n<p>Among up to 100\u00a0militants also reported killed was Islamic State&#8217;s local police chief, named as Jassim Shukur. &#8220;<em>The [coalition] warplanes also bombarded two other sub-districts around Hawija and many other ISIS militants who were with the police chief were killed by the bombardment<\/em>,&#8221; Iraqi official Sarhad Qadir told Rudaw.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>In its\u00a0latest\u00a0summary, casualty monitor the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.syriahr.com\/en\/2015\/06\/19135\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Syrian Observatory for Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0says 1,285 civilians died during fighting in May &#8211; 75 of whom were\u00a0killed by the international coalition.\u00a0The <a href=\"http:\/\/sn4hr.org\/wp-content\/pdf\/english\/death_toll_in_May_2015_en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Syrian Network for Human Rights<\/a> places May&#8217;s civilian death toll somewhat\u00a0higher, at\u00a01,766. SN4HR\u00a0also says: \u201c<em>May had the largest number of Syrian civilians who were killed by the international coalition forces [68]<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In Iraq, the total number of reported civilian deaths was 1,255 according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iraqbodycount.org\/database\/recent\/0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iraq Body Count<\/a>, of whom 23 were reported to be civilians<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Coalition actions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>May saw the most intense month of coalition bombings\u00a0yet &#8211; with <strong>70 per cent<\/strong> of 677 airstrikes targeted at Islamic State in <strong>Iraq<\/strong> according to coalition data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>There was disagreement among coalition sources as to <strong>how many militants<\/strong> have so far been killed in the 10-month bombing campaign:<br \/>\n&#8211; A senior <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/iraq-war-on-terror\/rise-of-isis\/what-an-estimate-of-10000-isis-fighters-killed-doesnt-tell-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">State Department official<\/a> claimed that 10,000 militants had died.<br \/>\n&#8211; US military officials <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/05\/27\/world\/middleeast\/with-isis-in-crosshairs-us-holds-back-to-protect-civilians.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the New York Times<\/a> that 12,500 had died.<br \/>\n&#8211; And the head of Air Combat Command claimed 13,000 militants had been killed in thousands of airstrikes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>Canada reported <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forces.gc.ca\/en\/operations-abroad-current\/op-impact-airstrikes.page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its 100th airstrike<\/a> in Iraq, while in its own monthly report Australia said that to the end of May 2015, it has so far released <a href=\"http:\/\/www.defence.gov.au\/Operations\/Okra\/ATG.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">352 munitions<\/a> against Daesh &#8211; an estimated 99 airstrikes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_1267\" style=\"width: 3610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150419raaf8207218_0037-GBU-38.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1267\" class=\"wp-image-1267 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150419raaf8207218_0037-GBU-38.jpg\" alt=\"Ayustralian Armament Technician performs final checks after loading a GBU-38 weapon on an F\/A-18A Hornet in the Middle East (Australian MoD)\" width=\"3600\" height=\"2400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150419raaf8207218_0037-GBU-38.jpg 3600w, https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150419raaf8207218_0037-GBU-38-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150419raaf8207218_0037-GBU-38-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3600px) 100vw, 3600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1267\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Australian armament technician performs final checks after loading a GBU-38 weapon on an F\/A-18A Hornet in the Middle East (Australian MoD\/ Sgt Shane Gidall)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1261,"template":"","tags":[8,7,22,9,15,16,45,25,18,31,14,5,13,3,47,11,12,10,21,26,48,4],"country":[],"belligerent":[],"language":[],"output_type":[987],"class_list":["post-41718","research","type-research","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-air-strike","tag-airstrike","tag-airwars","tag-bombing","tag-centcom","tag-chris-woods","tag-civilian","tag-civilian-casualties","tag-civilian-combatant","tag-civilians","tag-cjtf-oir","tag-coalition","tag-daesh","tag-iraq","tag-iraq-body-count","tag-isil","tag-isis","tag-islamic-state","tag-monitoring","tag-non-combatants","tag-sn4hr","tag-syria","output_type-analysis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/41718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41718"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=41718"},{"taxonomy":"belligerent","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/belligerent?post=41718"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=41718"},{"taxonomy":"output_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwars.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/output_type?post=41718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}