Airstrikes by the US-led Coalition in Raqqa, Syria, probably breached international humanitarian law and potentially amount to war crimes, according to a report by Amnesty International. The rights group accuses the coalition of killing and injuring thousands of civilians in attacks that were at times "disproportionate or indiscriminate," during its offensive to flush ISIS militants from their de facto capital.
"The coalition's claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb (ISIS) out of Raqqa while causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny," said Amnesty's senior crisis response adviser, Donatella Rovera. "On the ground in Raqqa we witnessed a level of destruction comparable to anything we've seen in decades of covering the impact of wars." The report, "War of Annihilation," details the loss of civilian life in Raqqa, based on interviews with 112 civilians at the sites of 42 coalition airstrikes.
It illustrates the cases of four civilian families who, between them, lost 90 relatives and neighbors, including 39 from one family alone. Almost all were killed by coalition airstrikes, the report alleges. "They are part of a wider pattern and provide a strong prima facie case that many coalition attacks that killed and injured civilians and destroyed homes and infrastructure violated international humanitarian law," the report states.
The report illustrates the difficult choice many civilians faced of either choosing to flee and be killed by ISIS snipers or risk being hit in coalition strikes. The Badran family, which lost 39 members and 10 neighbors in four separate coalition strikes, fled from place to place as front lines in the city rapidly shifted. Rasha Badran, one of the survivors, told Amnesty that she thought the coalition forces would target only ISIS militants. "We were naive. By the time we realized how dangerous it had become everywhere, it was too late; we were trapped," she told Amnesty.
Coalition 'leveled' Raqqa
Amnesty said that ISIS' four-year rule in Raqqa was "rife with war crimes," but that did not relieve the coalition of its obligation to minimize harm against civilians. "What leveled the city and killed and injured so many civilians was the US-led coalition's repeated use of explosive weapons in populated areas where they knew civilians were trapped. Even precision weapons are only as precise as their choice of targets," Rovera said.
The coalition's offensive in Raqqa began a year ago, with US, British and French forces taking part. Tens of thousands of airstrikes were carried out in the city, Amnesty said, adding that US forces "admitted to firing 30,000 artillery rounds during the offensive." It said US forces were responsible for 90% of coalition strikes. The US military mission to Syria could not be immediately contacted.
A British Ministry of Defense spokesperson said its mission in Syria fully complied with international humanitarian law, adding it had been open and transparent throughout the offensive and detailed each of its nearly 1,700 strikes. "We do everything we can to minimize the risk to civilian life through our rigorous targeting processes and the professionalism of the (Royal Air Force) crews but, given the ruthless and inhuman behavior of (ISIS), and the congested, complex urban environment in which we operate, we must accept that the risk of inadvertent civilian casualties is ever present," the spokesperson said in statement. The statement added that the coalition "investigates all credible claims and the results of any investigation are published."
