Civilian casualties in the war against ISIS on track to double under Trump

A July airstrike in Mosul.
(Image credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Since President Trump took office, approximately 12 or more civilians have been killed every day by U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq and Syria in the war against the Islamic State, an Airwars investigation for The Daily Beast has found. The Trump administration is on track to double the number of civilian casualties, with 2,200 civilians reportedly killed in total since Trump's inauguration. At least 2,300 civilians are believed to have died under the Obama administration's command.

The coalition's own civilian casualties reports are significantly lower than those kept by independent watchdog groups like Airwars, with forces taking responsibility for a total of 603 civilian deaths. Yet in just one attack in Mosul in March, correspondents told The Independent that the U.S-led coalition killed upwards of 240 Iraqi civilians.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.