Monitor says US Air Strikes Killed 15000 ISIS Fighters and 459 Civilians

The Airwars report goes into more details about friendly fire through air strikes.

As Britain’s MPs prepare to vote this autumn on expanding UK air strikes from Iraq to Syria, Labour MP Tom Watson called for thorough official investigations into claims of civilian deaths to allow an “informed debate” about the campaign.

A coalition of countries has since joined the operations which have seen more than 5,800 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

The air strikes have claimed the lives of at least 459 civilians to date.

The Kremlin spokesman offered his comments in response to U.S. media reports that the White House was not ruling out possible air strikes against pro-government forces in Syria if they threatened the insurgents from the local opposition trained by the Americans.

Eight strikes targeted the group near al Hasaka and two other Syrian cities, according to the statement released on Monday. The report states: “In one of the worst known incidents of mass civilian casualties reportedly caused by Coalition bombings, at least 58 non-combatants appear to have died when aircraft struck an Islamic State local headquarters, which was also being used as a temporary prison”.

The organization “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” was formed by the merger of two branches of “Al-Qaeda” in 2013 which aimed to establish an Islamic caliphate on the territories of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

“Almost all claims of noncombatant deaths from alleged coalition strikes emerge within 24 hours – with graphic images of reported victims often widely disseminated”, the report said.

The report, entitled “Cause for Concern”, said that these had come in 57 incidents, in which it believed there was enough evidence on the public record to indicate coalition responsibility for their deaths.

U.S. Central Command has finished four investigations into alleged civilian casualties, concluding that three were unfounded and that two innocent civilians were killed and two other people wounded in the fourth case. Highlighting the failure by the Security Council to take appropriate and immediate action to protect civilians in affected areas, Emmerson also stressed the need for the worldwide coalition of states engaged in military acts against ISIL to ensure that measures are put into place to protect civilians and prevent further casualties. 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.

Much of the controversy about U.S. involvement has instead focused on training “moderate” rebel groups to fight the Islamic State in Syria.