US-led coalition's tactics against Isis in Syria have 'greatly increased civilian death toll', says French officer

A French colonel fighting Isis has criticised the US-led coalition’s methods to defeat the terror group which he said had “greatly increased the death toll among civilians”.

Colonel Francois-Regis Legrier, who has since October, been in charge of directing his country's artillery in support Kurdish-led groups in Syria, now faces punishment for his comments.

He said the coalition’s focus in the fight to defeat Isis in its remaining stronghold of Hajin had been on limiting its own risks at the expense of greatly increasing the death toll among civilians and the levels of destruction.

“Yes, the Battle of Hajin was won, at least on the ground but by refusing ground engagement, we unnecessarily prolonged the conflict and thus contributed to increasing the number of casualties in the population,” Colonel Legrier wrote in the National Defence Review. “We have massively destroyed the infrastructure and given the population a disgusting image of what may be a Western-style liberation leaving behind the seeds of an imminent resurgence of a new adversary."

He argued the coalition could have eliminated just 2,000 militant fighters, who lacked air support or modern technological equipment, much more quickly and effectively by sending in just 1,000 troops.

“This refusal raises a question: why have an army that we don’t dare use?" he said.

He added: ”We have in no way won the war because we lack a realistic and lasting policy and an adequate strategy. How many Hajins will it take to understand that we are on the wrong track?”

A spokesperson for the French ministry of defence told The Independent “sanctions are expected” for Colonel Legrier. A request for further details was directed to the French armed forces, who are yet to respond.

France is one of the main allies in the US-led coalition fighting Isis in Syria and Iraq.

It has used its warplanes to strike militant targets, its heavy-artillery to back Kurdish-led fighters and its special forces on the ground.

Colonel Legrier’s article was later removed from the review’s website.

It comes as the United Nations (UN) warned around 200 families are trapped in a tiny pocket of land in eastern Syria still under the control of Isis.

Militants have stopped some families from leaving and many families “continue to be subjected to intensified air and ground-based strikes by the US-led Coalition forces and their SDF allies on the ground,” Michelle Bachelet, the UN’s human rights chief, said.

“Civilians continue to be used as pawns by the various parties,” Ms Bachelet said. “I call on them to provide safe passage to those who wish to flee, while those wish to remain must also be protected as much as possible. They should not be sacrificed to ideology on the one hand, or military expediency on the other. If protecting civilian lives means taking a few more days to capture the last fraction of land controlled by [Isis], then so be it.”

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have said they are on the verge of capturing the last Isis enclave in the village of Baghouz, in Deir ez-Zor.