MARCH 20, 2021
New research from Airwars concludes that this number could be higher still. Using hyperlocal open-source material to assess for the first time the entirety of reported civilian harm by all parties during the 2011 war, it found NATO strikes resulted in between 223 and 403 likely civilian deaths in the 212 events of concern reviewed...
This paled in comparison to the killings by Qaddafi’s forces; according to local communities, they were responsible for between 869 and 1,999 civilian deaths. And rebel actions resulted in between 50 and 113 fatalities...
[Retired British Army Maj. Gen. Rob Weighill, the Combined Joint Task Force head of operations during the conflict] insisted that even the second NATO attack in Majer, which killed many of those rushing to rescue the injured, was justified. Such so-called double-tap strikes are often criticized for killing civilians...
The U.S. Department of Defense has led the way,
admitting that its forces killed more than 1,300 civilians in the U.S.-led coalition campaign against the Islamic State—though watchdogs such as Airwars estimate the real number to be far higher.
Other key allies
remain in denial. The U.K. has
admitted to just one civilian fatality in six years of bombing the Islamic State, and France none...
But victims of NATO strikes in Libya find themselves caught in a bind. To seek an apology, they have to know which individual country carried out the strike, yet states still hide behind the anonymity of the coalition.
Eight NATO nations carried out airstrikes in Libya during 2011: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
The U.S. military said all questions should be answered by NATO. Current NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu did not respond to requests about specific incidents.
Lungescu insisted that NATO had “no mandate” to investigate inside Libya after the 2011 conflict ended...
A new NATO
“Protection of Civilians” handbook issued on March 11 notes the need “to prevent, identify, investigate, and track incidents of civilian casualties from [our] own actions, while also providing amends and post-harm assistance when civilians are harmed as a result of these operations.” Yet a decade of silence on Libya suggests NATO has little real willingness to follow that path.