Photo: CF-18 in Libya, 2011.

On December 18, the New York Times reported on the U.S. airstrikes that have claimed the lives of civilians in numerous countries.

Aljazeera summarizes: “The report, based on a trove of confidential Pentagon documents covering more than 1,300 reports of civilian casualties, undercuts the US government’s portrayal of a war fought with precision bombs, the publication said.”

Among the reports cited is the killing of 120 Syrian villagers by US Air Force A-10 attack jets and a B-52 bomber in July 2016.

It also includes a report of dozens more killed when an F-15 dropped three 500-pound precision-guided bombs on another Syrian village in March 2019.

This past September, Airwars, an organization that tracks military actions related to civilian harm, reported: “Based on official US military data, we have concluded that the US has carried out a minimum of 91,340 airstrikes throughout the 20 years of the War on Terror.”

Airwars adds: “Based on our comprehensive review of credible sources, we found at least 22,679 civilians were likely directly killed by US strikes since 9/11, with that number potentially as high as 48,308.”