"The Coalition conducted 34,763 strikes between August 2014 and the end of December 2019. During this period, based on information available, CJTF-OIR assesses at least 1,370 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition actions since the beginning of Operation Inherent Resolve," the report said.
The Coalition emphasized its commitment to adhere the Law of Armed Conflict and avoid collateral damage. "It will remain our goal to take all feasible precautions to avoid putting civilians in danger in our pursuit of a ruthless enemy," it said.
In December 2019, CJTF-OIR investigated 82 open reports from previous months and received 41 new reports of civilian casualties.
"Out of the 45 completed casualty allegation reports, three reports were determined to be credible and resulted in 11 unintentional civilian deaths," the monthly report said. Another 41 reports were determined to be non-credible and one was a duplicate of a previous report, the coalition added.
Seventy-nine reports are still open, including three that CJTF-OIR had previously closed but reopened due to the availability of new information, the coalition said.
The NGO Airwars estimates that the US-led coalition has killed as many as 13,159 civilians in its military operations in Iraq and Syria.
The international coalition was formed in 2014 after the Daesh terror group captured vast territories in Iraq and Syria. The coalition's actions in Syria have not been authorised by the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.
Since 2011, Syria has suffered an armed conflict between various opposition groups, including terrorist organisations, and the government led by President Bashar Assad. Now that the conflict has winded down and the government forces have regained control over most of the country from terrorists, the priority is now being given to political settlement and the return of refugees.
* Daesh (aka Islamic state/ISIS) is a terror group banned in Russia
