The US military said the number of civilians killed in its global operations last year was 132, far below estimates by non-governmental organizations. The Defense Ministry estimates that "132 civilians were killed and 91 injured in 2019 during US military operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia," said the Pentagon in an annual report required by the US Congress. .
The report said the ministry had identified "no civilian casualties in US military operations in Yemen and Libya . " The US military recognizes the most civilian casualties in Afghanistan, with 108 dead and 75 injured. In Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon admits responsibility for the deaths of 22 civilians, while 13 others were injured. In Somalia, he recognizes only two dead and three injured.
Read also: The redeployment of the American army worries its allies
Non-governmental organizations regularly publish far superior reports of US theaters of war. The NGO Airwars, which counts the civilian victims of aerial bombardments in the world, estimates between 465 and 1,113 the number of civilians killed in Syria only by the coalition led by the United States last year.
"The Ministry of Defense report represents some progress in terms of transparency on US military operations , " concluded a spokesperson for Amnesty International, Daphne Eviatar. "The content of the report, however, suggests that the Pentagon continues to underestimate the number of civilian casualties," she added.
