An independent monitoring group says some bombings carried out by the U.S.-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group likely have killed hundreds of civilians.
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The coalition campaign was conducted on Friday, with 19 air strikes in Iraq and 11 in Syria.
The group called for greater transparency and accountability from nearly all coalition members, since each is individually liable for any civilian deaths or injuries it causes.
While Airwars noted the difficulty of verifying information in territory held by the IS group, which has kidnapped and killed journalists and activists, other groups have reported similar casualties from the U.S.-led airstrikes.
In Iraq, 17 allied air strikes near nine cities targeted staging areas, tactical units, weapons and other Islamic State assets. Canada began its own strikes in April, while Britain carries out routine reconnaissance-only drone missions above Syria, and British pilots have carried out airstrikes while embedded with U.S. forces.
In Syria, the U.S.-led strikes were concentrated in northern areas “where Islamic State is fighting for a foothold”, including Hasakah, Kobane, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. That same strike also wounded two adults, according to an investigation released in May by the U.S. military. But intelligence analysts see the overall situation as a strategic stalemate: The Islamic State remains a well-funded extremist army able to replenish its ranks with foreign jihadis as quickly as the U.S. can eliminate them.
The CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the Obama administration bomb campaign launched last year against the Islamic State has yielded no perceivable degradation of the terrorist organization’s forces.
The assessment comes counter to the assertion by Gen. John Allen at a national security forum in Colorado last week that ISIS is “losing” its fight against coalition forces.
The Islamic State’s staying power also raises questions about the administration’s approach to the threat that the group poses to the U.S. and its allies. And the group has expanded to other countries, including Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Afghanistan. They include 53 children under the age of 18.
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Massoud Barzani also said Sinjar will remain a Kurdish province under the Iraqi federal government.
