The United States-led coalition bombing the so-called Islamic State (or Daesh) in Syria and Iraq, has admitted to killing 817 civilians since the campaign against the terrorist group was launched in 2014, The Independent reported this week.
But activists estimate the number is much, much higher. In fact, the British watchdog group Airwars, says nearly 6,000 civilians have died due to U.S.-led coalition strikes ... and that's the organization's minimum estimate.
According to a report in The New York Times about civilian casualties in November, the coalition has conducted over 27,500 strikes. The latest data by Airwars puts the number of airstrikes at more than 28,500.
Earlier this year, news reports circulated that coalition strikes had killed about 1,000 civilians >in March alone.
Despite the staggering number of casualties in the ongoing campaign, Major Shane Huff, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, has called the operation "one of the most precise air campaigns in military history."
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.
While U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq have increased – 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 in April, global outrage ensued. Trump – and many other U.S. leaders – condemned the atrocity, >launching missile strikes on Syrian military targets in response.
Of course, civilian deaths are always an unacceptable tragedy that should be condemned. But facts would suggest that when the U.S. and its allies are the perpetrators, the deaths get overlooked and hidden by those in power.
Western societies take little notice and the war machine keeps rolling on.