Airstrikes carried out by the United States killed some 477 civilians in Iraq and Syria in March alone, according to data compiled by the British watchdog group Airwars.
When strikes from other militaries involved in the U.S. coalition are factored in, that number is estimated to be almost 1,000.
While Western media have noted a substantial increase in civilian casualties since Donald Trump became president, civilian deaths from U.S. strikes have been a reality for Syrians since 2014, and for Iraqis for much longer.
Prior to Trump, the previous four U.S. presidents – Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George Bush – have all dropped bombs on Iraq.
Some say Trump's administration is more reckless
Many are alarmed at the Trump administration's seeming recklessness and apathy when it comes to avoiding civilian deaths.
"This is worse than anything we have ever seen from the coalition, and it’s up there with the levels of allegations we saw against Russia a year ago," Chris Woods, the investigative journalist who heads Airwars, said, according to VICE News.
“Something is shifting — a lot more civilians are dying, and it’s happening on Donald Trump’s watch," he said.
Just last week, Iraqi officials said they had removed nearly 300 bodies from the site of an airstrike in West Mosul.
Although there are conflicting reports as to who launched the attack, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. general commanding the fight against ISIS, admitted that there is a "fair chance" it was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition.
He brushed off the dead as "an unintentional accident of war."
Where is the outrage?
While U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq are increasing – correlating with an increased death toll – the global outrage has remained relatively stagnant.
Comparatively, when a chemical attack, allegedly perpetrated by the forces of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, left some 90 civilians dead last week, global outrage ensued. Trump – and many other U.S. leaders – condemned the atrocity, >launching missile strikes on Syrian military targets in response.
"It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror," Trump said in a press conference following the news of the chemical attack.
While most would use similar words to decry the barbarity of the chemical attack, many find it hard to believe the president's words are genuine.
Considering that hundreds of civilians have already been brutally slaughtered by his administration – including an 8-year-old American girl in Yemen – it's difficult to believe Trump really cares about these victims.
Do civilians in Iraq and Syria matter to Western leaders?
With many European nations and the U.S. looking to stop or curb the influx of refugees, while simultaneously increasing military strikes, one must ask if these Western leaders are actually concerned about protecting the innocent.
With the U.S. and its allies already increasing the intensity and frequency of their efforts in the region, it appears unlikely that the civilian death rate in Iraq and Syria will decrease anytime soon.