United Nations Investigators Say U.S.-Led Forces May Have Committed War Crimes in Syria

Coalition forces led by the U.S. may have committed war crimes when carrying out airstrikes in Syria that killed and wounded civilians, United Nations investigators have said. The investigators say the coalition’s Al-Jazeera Storm operation resulted in a high number of civilian casualties, most notably in a series of January strikes in Sha’fah that are believed to have left 16 civilians dead, including 12 children. “The Commission finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that international coalition forces may not have directed their attacks at a specific military objective, or failed to do so with the necessary precaution,” they said. “Launching indiscriminate attacks that result in death or injury to civilians amounts to a war crime in cases in which such attacks are conducted recklessly.” The investigators also said Syrian government and allied Russian warplanes are targeting medical facilities, schools, and farmland that might also amount to war crimes, according to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria.