An RAF airstrike against three Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria on 26 March “unintentionally” killed a civilian, Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, has said in a written ministerial statement.

It is the first time the Ministry of Defence has confirmed a civilian casualty during Britain’s campaign against the terror group in Iraq and Syria. The defence secretary said the RAF had conducted more than 1,600 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

“We do everything we can to minimise the risk to civilian life from UK strikes through our rigorous targeting processes and the professionalism of UK service personnel. It is therefore deeply regrettable that a UK airstrike on 26 March 2018, targeting Daesh [Isis] fighters in eastern Syria, resulted in an unintentional civilian fatality.

“During a strike to engage three Daesh fighters, a civilian motorbike crossed into the strike area at the last moment and it is assessed that one civilian was unintentionally killed.” </s> A Royal Air Force airstrike targeting three Islamic State fighters in Syria has killed a civilian on a motorbike who rode into the target zone, it emerged today.

The airstrike on March 26 'unintentionally' killed the civilian who crossed into the strike area 'at the last moment', Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said.

It is the first time the Ministry of Defence has confirmed a civilian casualty during Britain's campaign against the terror group in Iraq and Syria.

Britain has carried out more than 1,600 air strikes in Iraq and Syria - and UK forces have trained 60,000 members of the Iraqi Security Force, Mr Williamson said.

An MoD statement on the attack from March 26 said: 'A Reaper tracked a group of terrorists in a vehicle in the Syrian Euphrates valley on Monday March 26, and successfully destroyed it and its occupants with a precision Hellfire missile attack.'

In January, it was revealed that RAF crews had taken out ISIS terrorists using drones for reconnaissance and bombing raids in Syria for the first time.

Last year military commanders claimed victory against ISIS in Iraq, but the US-led coalition is continuing the battle against the militants in Syria.

Mr Williamson said: 'We do everything we can to minimise the risk to civilian life from UK strikes through our rigorous targeting processes and the professionalism of UK Service personnel.

'It is therefore deeply regrettable that a UK air strike on March 26, 2018, targeting Daesh fighters in eastern Syria, resulted in an unintentional civilian fatality.

'During a strike to engage three Daesh fighters, a civilian motorbike crossed into the strike area at the last moment and it is assessed that one civilian was unintentionally killed.

'We reached this conclusion after undertaking routine and detailed post-strike analysis of all available evidence.'

He added that the wider coalition will carry out an investigation, but the UK's commitment to fighting against ISIS 'will remain as strong as ever'.

The confirmation comes one day after a source inside the coalition told the BBC that he believed civilians could have been killed by RAF airstrikes.

That claim brought into doubt a previous statement by the Ministry of Defence that it had seen 'no evidence' of its strikes in Iraq causing civilian casualties.

But the MoD confirmed today that the incident on March 26 saw the only civilian death caused by RAF strikes on ISIS in Iraq or Syria since they began.

Mr Williamson said: 'These events serve to remind us of the consequences of conflict and of the heavy price that the people of Syria have paid.

'It reminds us that when we undertake military action, we must do so knowing that it can never be completely without risk.

'Such incidents will not weaken our resolve to defeat Daesh and rid the world of its poisonous ideology of hate and intolerance.' </s> The United States Central Command has released a statement admitting that US airstrikes hit Syrian Army positions.

They claim that they hit Syrian soldiers by mistake when they were targeting ISIS terrorists.

Up to 80 Syrian service men were killed in the incident near Deir al-Zor military airport on Saturday

US military officials acknowledge responsibility for the bombing attack against Syrian Army positions that paved the way for a major Daesh offensive against Assad government forces and that killed 80 Syrian service personnel, but claimed that the attack was an accident with the intended target being Daesh terrorists.

The attack was conducted by two F-16 fighter jets and two A10 ground attack aircraft that came into Syrian airspace through the Iraqi border without authorization from the Assad government.

The Russian Ministry of Defense immediately blasted the United States for the lethal attack observing that Daesh engaged in a major offensive after American forces crippled the Assad regime’s position. “If this airstrike was carried out due to an error in the coordinates of the targetm it is a direct consequence of US side’s unwillingless to coordinate its actions against terrorist groups with Russia,” the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman emphasized.

The attack came amid a ceasefire in Syria agreed upon by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry one week earlier and that came into effect on September 12. The attack threatens to undermine the delicate ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government concerned that it will provide Daesh terrorists an opportunity to regroup and that the rebels will not hold to the arrangement. Nonetheless, the attack also highlights the importance of the ceasefire deal and the need for the United States and Russia to coordinate on intelligence.

In the statement, Central Command says that “Coalition forces believed they were striking a Da’esh fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike. The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition forces were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military.”

The statement, provided in full below, goes on to imply that Russia is somehow to blame for the egregious accident that killed the 80 Syrian soldiers because the US claims that it “had earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike.” </s> This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The United Nations security council has called an emergency meeting to discuss air strikes by the US-led coalition in Syria, diplomats said, after Russia said coalition warplanes had bombed and killed Syrian government forces.

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The 15-member council was due to meet behind closed doors on Saturday evening in New York, diplomats told Reuters.

The US envoy to the United nations, Samantha Power, said she regretted loss of life in the Syria airstrike, but said the Russian call for the security council meeting was “a stunt”.

Earlier on Saturday Russia’s ministry of defense said coalition planes had killed 62 Syrian soldiers, wounded 100 more and allowed Islamic State militants to gain an advantage through the strike.

The Pentagon did not outright admit that coalition planes had hit Syrian forces, but said that pilots had “believed they were striking a Daesh [Isis] fighting position” and may have struck Syrian government forces instead.

The death toll could not immediately be confirmed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based group that has tracked casualties of the war, reported that about 80 Syrian soldiers were killed. The Russian defense ministry said more than 100 were injured.

In a statement, the ministry echoed questions from President Vladimir Putin about US commitment to a shaky ceasefire deal brokered by the two countries, and said the airstrikes could be evidence that American officials had not consulted with their counterparts in Moscow.

“If this airstrike was the result of a targeting error,” Russian major general Igor Konashenkov said in a statement, “it is a direct consequence of the US side’s stubborn unwillingness to coordinate its action against terrorist groups on Syrian territory with Russia.”



Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, was subsequently quoted by Ria Novosti saying the Kremlin would demand an explanation at the UN.

“We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world,” she said, according to the state-owned news agency. “The White House is defending Islamic State. Now there can be no doubts about that.

“We demand a full and detailed explanation from Washington. That explanation must be given at the UN Security Council.”

Konashenkov did not identify the planes’ country of origin, but said they were part of the US-led coalition. US central commmand (Centcom) said “Russian counterparts” had been consulted.

The Russian defense ministry said Isis militants were emboldened by the airstrikes, which hit an airport near Deir al-Zor, and that the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad were now fighting a pitched battle against those of the terror group. It also said the strikes were conducted between 5pm and 5.30pm local time by two F-16s and A-10s that entered the country from the direction of Iraq.

SOHR said Russian warplanes had been bombing the same region recently, citing a source at the airport who also said Isis fighters had used the strike to overrun a government position.



Centcom acknowledged the strikes in a statement, saying: “Coalition forces believed they were striking an [Isis] fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike.”

The statement added: “The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military.”

Centcom said the coalition had struck the area in the past, and that its members had “earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike”.

“It is not uncommon for the Coalition Air Operations Center to confer with Russian officials as a professional courtesy and to deconflict,” the command center said, “although such contact is not required by the current US-Russia Memorandum of Understanding on safety of flight.”

The statement added that “coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit” and that they would “review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned”.

The US and Russia last week brokered a controversial ceasefire that made provisions for joint strikes on jihadi militants, even though the Kremlin stands accused of killing 2,000 civilians in six months of strikes.



Many Russian strikes have targeted US-backed groups that oppose Assad’s government, which is itself responsible for tens of thousands of civilians killed, many with chemical weapons, according to rights groups. The US says its bombing campaign has killed 55 civilians, though rights groups say at least 210 died in the battle for the city of Manbij alone.

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Elements of the Syria pact have been resisted by leaders in the Pentagon, including defense secretary Ash Carter. State-owned Russian news agencies have quoted military officials as saying that Syrian rebels have violated the ceasefire agreement 55 times already. Rebels have alleged violations by Assad’s forces.

Aid shipments into the devastated city of Aleppo have yet to be allowed to reach civilians. More than 470,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war since 2011, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

On Saturday, Putin blamed ceasefire violations and the aid blockade on resistance from Washington, saying Americans “still cannot separate the so-called healthy part of the opposition from the half-criminal and terrorist elements.

“In my opinion, this comes from the desire to keep the combat potential in fighting the legitimate government of Bashar Assad. But this is a very dangerous route.”

Putin has supported Assad’s government since the start of the war with money, aid and arms, and, since last September, with airstrikes.
A US-led airstrike intended to kill ISIS soldiers mistakenly kills 18 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces.