While there was an escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict, Airwars' report states that the number of civilians killed in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen decreased in 2021 as compared to previous years.
In Iraq, Airwars reported that civilian harm from “foreign belligerents” operating in the country was “low”, but rocket attacks by Iranian-backed militias targeting US military bases throughout the country were frequent, and drawing attention to an additional drone attack on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s Baghdad residence in November.
North of the capital, in the Kurdistan Region, the report noted that Turkey has continued to expand its presence, establishing “dozens of small military bases as part of its ongoing conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”
According to the body’s data, “24 locally alleged civilian harm incidents were tracked throughout the year from Turkish actions, a slight increase on the 21 incidents reported in 2020,” resulting in a total of between 18 and 25 civilian deaths and up to 33 injuries.
In Duhok province, Airwars found several incidents of reported civilian harm around the village of Hirure, including “an event on September 4th in which three people were injured,” citing a Rudaw English investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in the attack.
While the report found no reports of civilian harm in Iraq caused by the actions of the US-led Coalition last year, it did note the sporadic attacks on US bases throughout the country, primarily “blamed on Iranian-linked militia groups,” leading to retaliation, and recording the increase in “mini drone attacks, rather than rocket strikes - in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid defence systems established at such bases.”
Notably, the report stressed, “This marked the first year since the US-led alliance intervened in Iraq against ISIS in 2014, in which no civilian casualties were reported.” In December, the Coalition transitioned to an advise and assist role in Iraq, and the report finds a “significant decrease” in US military activities across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.
“Across all the US campaigns Airwars monitors, including in Syria and Iraq, as well as counterterrorism campaigns in Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere, civilian harm from US actions fell in 2021, continuing a downward trend in recent years,” it said.
Nevertheless, in Syria “at least 15 and up to 27 civilians were likely killed by US-led Coalition actions in 20 incidents throughout the year,” the report continued, “mostly in combined air and ground actions that appeared to target alleged remnant ISIS fighters.”
Analysis published by Airwars in September found that US drone and airstrikes have killed at least 22,000 civilians - perhaps as many as 48,000, predominantly in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria - since 2001, based on the US military’s own claim to have conducted almost 100,000 airstrikes in that period.
Alleged misfire from US forces stationed in Erbil’s Harir airbase landed on at least 11 houses and one car in the Kurdistan Region’s Shaqlawa on Monday, with no casualties reported, according to a local official.
“At 10:00 PM, the [US] force was conducting practice specialized for shooting down drones, and that is why the bullets landed in the center of Basrma district and the security forces arrived at the scene of the incident,” Jangawar Azhgayi, the head of Basrma district, told Rudaw.
Rudaw English has repeatedly reached out to Operation Inherent Resolve’s press desk and the US Department of Defense for comment on the incident, but as yet has had no response. Despite Rudaw English submitting a question, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby did not address the event during his Tuesday briefing at the Pentagon.
In his opening remarks, however, Kirby congratulated The New York Times investigative team for being awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for their work in uncovering “the vast civilian toll” of US-led airstrikes in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, challenging official US military accounts of civilian harm.
“We have more work to do to prevent civilian harm,” Kirby said, noting that the Pentagon had “made mistakes” and were “not always as transparent about these mistakes as we should have been.” Moving forward, he added, the Pentagon is working on mitigating civilian harm. “We know we have to get better at this, and we are.”
