US Week in Review – January 14

Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) shares regular updates about the work of our global programs. Our US program, helmed by US Program Director, Daniel R. Mahanty, works with US institutions to protect civilians trapped in conflict around the world. This weekly overview of the US Program is authored by CIVIC consultant, Lyndsey Martin.

US MILITARY AND COALITION OPERATIONS

OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE

The US military has “begun the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria.” Initial withdrawals have been limited to equipment, and American troops haven’t yet exited Syria.

A report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights calls for compensation of the nearly 3,000 civilians it says have been killed in Coalition strikes in Syria. The SNHR urges the United States to “reassess its decision” on the withdrawal of troops, saying “from a human rights perspective, US forces cannot simply leave after four years of military intervention without contributing to the resolution of cases that are still pending, some of which occurred as a direct result of the military intervention.”

About 25,000 civilians have fled fighting between Coalition-backed forces and the Islamic State in Deir Ezzor over the past six months, including about 8,500 over the past few weeks. An estimated 2,000 people remain in the town of Hajin.

The Pentagon has stopped providing detailed strike releases, including information about targets and the dates of strikes, in its monthly reports of civilian casualties, even as strikes and civilian casualties are at their highest levels since the Raqqa campaign in 2017.

MOST RECENT OIR CIVCAS REPORT (December 30): In the month of November, CJTF-OIR carried over 194 open reports from previous months and received 15 new reports. The assessment of 25 civilian casualty allegation reports has been completed. Out of the 25 completed casualty allegation reports, three reports were determined to be credible and resulted in 15 unintentional civilian deaths.  Two of the reports were determined to be duplicate reports that had previously reported and the remaining 20 reports were assessed to be non-credible. A total of 184 reports are still open. The Coalition conducted a total of 31,406 strikes between August 2014 and end of November 2018. During this period, based on information available, CJTF-OIR assesses at least 1139 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve.

AFGHANISTAN

After 11 years and nearly $8 billion spent on building Afghanistan’s air force, “it remains a frustrating work in progress with no end in sight.” American forces carry out five times as many airstrikes as the Afghan air force today, and airstrikes from Afghan aircraft have resulted in civilian casualties at a significantly higher rate.

The NYT recorded 15 civilian deaths in Afghanistan between January 4 and 10.