The New York Times: US planes have killed thousands of civilians in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan

New Pentagon documents revealed that US air strikes in the Middle East are “full of intelligence flaws” and have caused thousands of civilian deaths, including many children, according to an investigation published by the New York Times.

Based on 1,300 reports by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) on attacks that resulted in civilian casualties – obtained by the US newspaper under the Transparency Act – this investigation is a blow to the image of “clean war” conducted with precision strikes, as the US military consistently asserts.

The New York Times said that “the US air war was marred by failed intelligence, hasty and inaccurate missile launches, and the deaths of thousands of civilians, including a large number of children,” adding, “No report indicated an error or disciplinary punishment.”

During five years, the US military has launched more than 50,000 air strikes in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, and has admitted killing 1,417 civilians by mistake with air strikes in Syria and Iraq since 2014, and the official number of civilians killed since 2018 in Afghanistan is 188.