BEIRUT: The US military failed to take “necessary precautions” to prevent civilians deaths in a strike on a Syrian mosque last month that killed dozens of people, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The March 16 strike in the village of opposition-held Al-Jineh in northern Aleppo province killed 49 people, mostly civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“United States forces appear to have failed to take necessary precautions to avoid civilian casualties,” in the strike, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.
The Pentagon said the strike targeted a meeting of senior Al-Qaeda leaders and denied a mosque had been hit in the attack.
But it launched a casualty “credibility assessment” after reviewing public and classified information.
HRW said it had interviewed 14 people with firsthand knowledge of the strike, and worked with organizations to analyze imagery of the attack and reconstruct the assault.
“The US seems to have gotten several things fundamentally wrong in this attack, and dozens of civilians paid the price,” said Ole Solvang, HRW’s deputy emergencies director.
“The US authorities need to figure out what went wrong, start doing their homework before they launch attacks, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Part of the dispute over the attack centered around whether the building hit was a mosque or not.
HRW said the building did not have some traditional features of a mosque, including a domed roof and a minaret.
But it said aerial surveillance would have shown people regularly gathering for daily prayers, including in the moments before the attack.
“Any attempt to verify through people with local knowledge what kind of building this was would likely have established that the building was a mosque,” the group said.
HRW said it had found no evidence that militants were inside the mosque, but that even if they had been “striking a mosque just before prayer and then attack people attempting to flee, without knowing whether they were civilians or combatants, may well have been disproportionate or indiscriminate.”
“Indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks violate the laws of war, as does failing to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian deaths,” it added.
HRW said it had submitted its findings to US Central Command and been told a “comprehensive investigation reached the preliminary conclusion that the strike was lawful.”
Washington leads a coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes against the Daesh group in Syria since 2014, as well as occasionally targeting other terrorists.
Last month, the coalition said its campaign against Daesh in Syria and Iraq had unintentionally killed at least 220 civilians, but monitors say the real number is far higher.
HRW: US failed to protect civilians in Syria mosque
HRW: US failed to protect civilians in Syria mosque
GCC leaders call for halt to war crimes in Gaza, end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- The leaders stressed their firm support for the Palestinian cause and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital
- The ‘Kuwait Declaration,’ issued at the 45th session of the GCC Supreme Council, praised the growing role of Gulf countries in addressing regional, global challenges
RIYADH: Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday called for an end to Israeli war crimes in Gaza, the displacement of the region’s population, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The leaders stressed their firm support during a meeting in Kuwait for the Palestinian cause and its sovereignty over all Palestinian territories occupied since June 1967, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The “Kuwait Declaration,” which was issued at the 45th session of the Supreme Council of the GCC, praised the growing role of Gulf countries in addressing regional and global political, security, and economic challenges.
It also praised their contribution to resolving issues that threatened peace, security, and stability, and for enhancing international dialogue and communication between countries.
A statement said: “The Supreme Council called for an end to the killings and collective punishment in Gaza, the displacement of the population, and the destruction of civilian facilities and infrastructure, including health facilities, schools, and places of worship, in clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
GCC leaders also welcomed the resolutions of the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in November to enhance international action to stop the war on Gaza; achieve permanent and comprehensive peace; implement the two-state solution in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative; mobilize support for recognizing the State of Palestine; and lead the international coalition to implement the two-state solution.
They also praised Qatar’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and exchange detainees.
The leaders condemned continued Israeli aggression on Lebanon and warned against the expansion of the conflict in the region. They also welcomed the recently brokered ceasefire in the country.
The leaders also welcomed continued efforts made by Saudi Arabia and Oman to revive the political process in Yemen.
The leaders stressed the peaceful approach of GCC countries and their preference for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all disputes in the region and beyond, in accordance with the requirements of international law and the UN Charter.
US Navy destroys Houthi missiles and drones targeting American ships in Gulf of Aden
- The Houthis claimed the attack on merchant ships in a statement and said they had targeted the US destroyers
DUBAI: US Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi militants at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.
US Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.
The Houthis claimed the attack in a statement and said they had targeted the US destroyers and “three supply ships belonging to the American army in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”
Houthi attacks for months have targeted shipping through a waterway where $1 trillion in goods pass annually over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A ceasefire was announced in the latter last week.
The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on Nov. 12.
US, France, Germany, UK urge ‘de-escalation’ in Syria: joint statement
WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies France, Germany and Britain called Sunday for “de-escalation” in Syria and urged in a joint statement for the protection of civilians and infrastructure.
“The current escalation only underscores the urgent need for a Syrian-led political solution to the conflict, in line with UNSCR 2254,” read a statement issued by the US State Department, referencing the 2015 UN resolution that endorsed a peace process in Syria.
Britain ups Gaza aid ahead of donor conference
- Aid organizations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory
LONDON: Britain will provide an additional 19 million pounds ($24 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the international development minister said Monday, calling for Israel to give greater access ahead of a key conference on the conflict.
“Gazans are in desperate need of food, and shelter with the onset of winter,” the minister, Anneliese Dodds, said in a statement as she headed for a three-day visit to the region, including an international conference in Cairo Monday on the Gaza Strip’s aid needs.
“The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis,” she added.
“Israel must immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza.”
Aid organizations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory.
The new UK funding will be split into 12 million pounds for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and seven million pounds for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the statement said.
UNRWA announced Sunday it had halted the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of safety fears, saying the situation had become “impossible.”
Britain has committed to spending a total of 99 million pounds this year in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, the government said.
After Dodds’s Cairo stop, the minister is to travel to the Palestinian territories and Israel.
Islamist militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the death of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 44,429 in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Airstrikes in northwestern Syria kill 25 people, says Syria’s White Helmets
- The Syria offensive began Wednesday, the same day a truce between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah came into effect
DAMASCUS: The Syrian rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday on X that at least 25 people have been killed in northwestern Syria in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia on Sunday.
