Katherine Ziesing | Canberra
On 4 March, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) announced a review of air strike reporting. Concurrently, Defence has also reviewed its air strike reporting procedures.
From next week, the ADF will independently publish a fortnightly report on Australian strikes, summarising the targets and locations in Iraq and Syria struck by Australian aircraft. The first unclassified report will be available here.
“Allies in the operation have been reporting such figures for some time now”
This decision comes after weighing the importance of reporting ADF air strikes in Iraq and Syria against the potential propaganda advantages it might provide Daesh and any risk to the safety of ADF personnel on operations.
Defence will also report credible claims of civilian casualties against the ADF on occurrence. This will occur in addition to CJTF-OIR’s monthly civilian casualty report.
To date, Australian strike aircraft have been involved in a small number of incidents resulting in credible claims of civilian casualties:
- 10 October 2014 – RAAF air strike on a Daesh checkpoint west of Ramadi. It was reported a truck may have entered the target area after the weapon was released. A review of full motion video assessed that no civilian casualties occurred as a result of this strike.
- 12 December 2014 – Multi-national air strike on a Daesh weapons factory in Fallujah. Two people were observed in the target area following the strike; however, there were no reports of civilian casualties arising from the incident.
As previously reported, neither of these incidents resulted in substantiated civilian casualties.
From August 2014 – March 2017, the Coalition has conducted 20,205 air strikes; of these, 0.24 per cent resulted in credible reports of civilian casualties.
Prior to an air strike, Australia’s Air Task Group undertakes meticulous and comprehensive mission planning including national and international approvals. Once a mission is complete, ADF staff thoroughly review every weapon strike to ensure the strikes are consistent with pre-strike approvals.
ADM Comment: This is a welcome change to the usual ‘Fortress Defence’ mentality in the ADF when it comes to the dissemination of information. Allies in the operation have been reporting such figures for some time now with the US releasing detailed information, including casualties.