UK government in ‘deep denial’ over Syrian civilian deaths in Raqqa campaign

The British government is in “deep denial” over its contribution to the high civilian death toll in the campaign to oust Isis from its self-declared capital of Raqqa, Amnesty International said on Monday.

The UK was a key partner in the US-led coalition’s offensive to liberate the Syrian city from Isis this time last year, following a brutal four-month battle spearheaded by Kurdish forces on the ground and devastating air power from above. But that victory came at a devastating cost for Raqqa’s inhabitants.

More than 1,500 civilians were killed in coalition air and artillery attacks between June and October 2017, according to Airwars, a UK-based independent investigative group that tracks civilian casualties in the fight against Isis.

The US, which accounted for around 90 per cent of the air strikes on Raqqa, has so far admitted responsibility for the deaths of around 100 civilians in the city. Hundreds of casualties were also caused by mines and IEDs left by Isis.

The RAF carried out some 216 airstrikes in and around the city during the offensive, but the Ministry of Defence has denied that any civilians were harmed as a result. It is now under renewed pressure to reevaluate that claim, and carry out further investigations into its contribution to the civilian death toll.

“It stretches credibility to breaking point to believe that the MoD’s part in the massive aerial bombardment of Raqqa didn’t cause even one civilian death,” Oliver Sprague, Amnesty International UK’s military expert, told The Independent.

“Rather than focusing on the devastating impacts of this joint bombing operation, the MoD has sought to undermine the credibility of Amnesty when we’ve published evidence detailing coalition airstrikes that killed civilians,” he added.

Most of Raqqa still lies in ruins today. Around 80 percent of the city was destroyed in the fighting, according to the UN, and little progress has been made in rebuilding vital infrastructure.

The UK has been largely shielded from criticism over its part in the Raqqa campaign due its junior role in comparison to the US. But Amnesty International is not alone in casting doubt on the MoD’s claim that it caused no civilian casualties in the city.

In written evidence submitted to a Defence Select Committee hearing on UK military operations in Raqqa and Mosul in May, Airwars said regular use by the RAF of the Paveway IV, a 500lb bomb, would likely have caused civilian deaths in the densely populated city.

“Given the intensity of the strikes and the nature of the city and the number of population in Raqqa, it is a statistical impossibility that no civilians were harmed in these airstrikes,” Abdulwahab Tahhan, Syria researcher at Airwars, told The Independent.

The use of human shields by Isis – documented by several rights groups – also contributed to the high civilian toll.

Airwars said that a possible reason behind the UK’s refusal to acknowledge civilian harm was due to a reliance on “observable” evidence as proof – such as imagery captured by aircraft that showed civilians near the target area – while dismissing reliable reports from the ground.

In the entire air campaign against Isis in both Syria and Iraq, the UK has conceded responsibility for just one civilian casualty, from a Reaper drone strike in Syria earlier this year – despite more than 1,700 RAF air strikes.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour MP and member of the Committee on Arms Export Controls, said: “The government’s assertion that no civilians have been killed in 1,700 British strikes, mostly in densely populated urban areas in Mosul and Raqqa, is part of a wider strategy of denial around the consequences of Britain’s military campaign in Syria and Iraq.”

“Failure to account for the deaths of civilians today imperils civilians tomorrow,” he added.

An MoD spokesperson said: “This has been the most transparent air campaign in history. All RAF missions comply fully with international humanitarian law, are meticulously planned and every care is taken to minimise the effect of our military action on civilians and civilian objects.”

Amnesty’s criticism of the UK’s role was preceded by a scathing assessment of the coalition’s Raqqa campaign as a whole, one year after it declared victory in the city. The rights group said Monday that the coalition’s failure to properly investigate claims of civilian casualties was “a slap in the face for survivors trying to rebuild their lives”.

“It is completely reprehensible that the coalition refuses to acknowledge its role in most of the civilian casualties it caused, and abhorrent that even where it has admitted responsibility, it accepts no obligation towards its victims,” said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International’s new secretary general, who recently visited Raqqa.

In a report released in June, Amnesty International said its own investigation into the coalition’s campaign in Raqqa had revealed “prima facie evidence that several coalition attacks which killed and injured civilians violated international humanitarian law”.

A spokesperson for the coalition conceded Monday that “the cost of liberating Raqqa came at a very high cost”, but insisted there was no alternative.

“The fighting to liberate the citizens of Raqqa was often house to house against an enemy with no regard for human life that used IEDs and booby traps every step of the way, and Raqqa citizens as human shields,” said US army Colonel Sean Ryan.

“Liberating the citizens of Raqqa was the goal and the other choice would be to let Isis continue to murder, torture, rape and pillage the citizens of Raqqa, and that is simply unacceptable,” he added.

Mazen Hassoun, a resident of Raqqa who fled in 2014 after Isis killed his brother and now lives in Germany, watched the campaign to liberate his city from afar.

“The coalition didn’t show any respect to the civilian lives,” he told The Independent. “We all wanted Raqqa to be liberated, but not that way, not by killing thousands of people.”