If the British government is to be believed, only one civilian has been killed by its armed forces during its air war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. On 26 March 2018, according to a statement made by the then defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, a British drone was preparing to strike three IS fighters in the eastern Syrian desert when a civilian motorcyclist zoomed into the target area. It was too late for the drone’s operator to reverse course and the man was killed along with the combatants.
As part of the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve, Britain has dropped more than 4300 bombs on Iraq and Syria since 2014, many of them in densely populated urban centres, and claims to have killed more than four thousand IS fighters. The US admits that the coalition has killed at least 1437 civilians, though the likely toll is far higher. Airwars, a British civilian casualty research organisation, puts the number between eight and thirteen thousand.
In 2021, Airwars filed a Freedom of Information request in an attempt to find out what happened on 26 March 2018, and to understand how the British military assesses evidence of harm to civilians from its airstrikes. The MoD rejected the request on grounds of national security, but Airwars challenged their refusal on grounds of public interest. In November 2023 Airwars took the MoD to court. The tribunal’s ruling was expected late last year but continues to be postponed.
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