US military opens formal inquiry into air strike in Syria

The US military has opened a formal investigation into a July 19th air strike in northern Syria that local and outside observers consider the deadliest coalition attack on civilians in its war against Isis.

The strike, in the village of Tokkhar, took place during a battle for Manbij, a strategic Syrian city, that is now in its third month.

Col Christopher Garver, chief spokesman for the Baghdad-based US military command, said on Wednesday that the allegations surrounding the strike were "credible enough" to warrant a formal investigation. Word of the investigation comes approximately a week before an internal deadline to launch an inquiry.

The civilian death toll from the strike remains under dispute.

The UK-based monitoring group Airwars has concluded that 74 civilians – now that a 14-year-old girl has died of her wounds – have died, but Chris Woods, the group's lead researcher, said the total could be as many as 203.

Destruction

In contrast, Col Garver said he had seen figures suggesting 10 to 15 civilians died in the attack.

US investigators are unlikely to visit the scene of the destruction, which has been the setting for a gruelling fight between Isis and the US’s Syrian Arab and Kurdish proxy forces since May 21st.

Information gleaned from social media, journalism and other public sources will inform the inquiry, Col Garver said, as will proprietary US military information, such as geospatially located ordnance impacts.

“We know what our rounds hit, we know what we’re shooting,” Col Garver said, adding that the US also knows promptly if a bomb or missile’s targeting array has malfunctioned.

Unlike in other US conflicts during the post-9/11 era, the dead from Tokkhar are not anonymous. Airwars, drawing from several local sources, has published the family names of the dead.

– (Guardian service)