Displaced Iraqi children who fled their homes in western Mosul due to
fighting between government forces and Isis fighters. (photo: Ahmad
Gharabli/AFP/Getty)
Mosul Residents Were Told Not to Flee Before Airstrikes That Killed
Civilians
By Guardian UK
28 March 17
Pentagon opens investigation into reports that more than 150 civilians died
in US-led bombings to retake Iraqi city from Isis
Residents in Mosul were instructed not to leave their homes ahead of
airstrikes last week that are reported to have killed more than 150
civilians, Amnesty International has said.
The recent spike in civilian casualties suggests the US-led coalition in
Iraq is not taking adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths as it
battles Isis alongside Iraqi ground forces, according to a report by the
human rights group on Tuesday.
The coalition has acknowledged that the US military was behind an airstrike
on 17 March that hit a western Mosul neighbourhood. Residents have said at
least 150 civilians were killed. US officials have not confirmed that there
were civilian casualties but have opened an investigation.
The Pentagon said on Monday it was reviewing more than 700 video feeds of
coalition airstrikes on west Mosul. Amid rising concern over a jump in
civilian casualties in fighting in Iraq and Syria, Colonel JT Thomas, a
spokesman for the US central command, said it was putting a high priority on
investigating the Mosul reports.
Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International,
said: "The fact that Iraqi authorities repeatedly advised civilians to
remain at home, instead of fleeing the area, indicates that coalition forces
should have known that these strikes were likely to result in a significant
numbers of civilian casualties.
"Disproportionate attacks and indiscriminate attacks violate international
humanitarian law and can constitute war crimes."
Evidence gathered on the ground in Mosul "points to an alarming pattern of
US-led coalition airstrikes which have destroyed whole houses with entire
families inside", the Amnesty report stated.
Iraqi forces began the assault on Isis-held Mosul in October after months of
preparation and buildup. In January, Iraq declared east Mosul "fully
liberated" and government forces are now battling to retake the city's
western half.
Civilians, humanitarian groups and monitoring officials have repeatedly
warned of the possibility of increased civilian casualties in western Mosul
due to the higher density of the population and the increased reliance on
airstrikes and artillery. Faced with their toughest fight yet against Isis,
Iraqi and coalition forces have increasingly turned to airstrikes and
artillery to clear and hold territory in Mosul's west.
In previous battles for Fallujah and Ramadi, those cities were entirely
emptied of their civilian population as Iraqi forces battled Isis. In Mosul,
the Iraqi government said it had asked civilians to remain in their homes to
prevent large-scale displacement.
When the operation to retake Iraq's second largest city was launched, more
than a million people were estimated to still be living in Mosul. Today, the
United Nations estimates about 400,000 remain trapped in what is now the
last major Iraq stronghold for Isis.
Amnesty International's report quoted survivors and eyewitnesses of
airstrikes that have killed civilians: "They did not try to flee as the
battle got underway because they received repeated instructions from the
Iraqi authorities to remain in their homes."
On Monday, Iraqi forces said they had launched new assaults in Mosul's Old
City after the high civilian death toll appeared to prompt a change in
tactics.
Iraq's federal police chief, Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat, said new
advances, supported by air power, were being aided by "precise targeting of
selected positions" provided by intelligence. "Our advance aim is to protect
civilian lives, infrastructure and private properties," he was quoted by
state TV as saying.
Iraqi parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri suggested on Monday that
operations should be suspended if more civilian casualties occurred. "Should
civilian casualties continue, the trend will be to cease operations until
necessary plans can be found that ensure civilian safety," he was cited by
Al Arabiya news as saying.
Thomas declined to discuss questions raised in the media on whether
President Donald Trump's administration had eased controls on coalition air
strikes against jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, possibly leading to the
surge in civilian deaths.
But he called examining what happened in west Mosul "the priority at this
time" for US central command, saying reports of a heavy civilian toll could
represent several days of bombing.
"In Mosul, there are multiple days of strikes," he told journalists in
Washington in a Pentagon conference call. "The numbers of civilian
casualties that have been reported variously - one of the things we're
looking at is if some of those numbers are cumulative from different
incidents, different engagements, in this highly contested, very ferocious
battle that's going on in Mosul.
"We know that we were dropping bombs in the immediate vicinity," he said,
noting that the bombs used are "quite precise".
US investigators are also looking at the apparent bombing of a school in
Mansura near Raqqa, Syria on 21 March, and a building next to a mosque on 16
March in Al-Jineh, in Aleppo province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that 33 people
were killed in the Mansura bombing and 49 in Al-Jineh, where the US target
was a meeting of Al-Qaida officials.
e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
