Charles Lister Profile picture
Senior Fellow & Director of @MEI_Syria & @MEI_CTE programs at @MiddleEastInst. Author of #TheSyrianJihad & more. American-British in DC.

Jun 5, 2018, 5 tweets

“War of Annihiliation”

- @amnesty says there’s prima facie evidence that the U.S.-led campaign on #ISIS-held #Raqqa killed 100s of civilians & violated international humanitarian law.

Grim reading.

amnesty.org/download/Docum…

@amnesty * @CJTFOIR’s Lt. Gen. Townsend - “There's never been a more precise air campaign in the history of armed conflict.”

* Sgt. Maj. John Troxell - "In 5 months [we] fired 30,000 artillery rounds on #ISIS targets”

= 200 rounds/day

A U.S. M777 howitzer has 100 meter margin of error.

@amnesty @CJTFOIR .@amnesty detailed x4 cases of @CJTFOIR strikes on #Raqqa - all of them targeted buildings housing civilians, with no evidence of #ISIS inside or nearby.

@CENTCOM fired “precision munitions with a wide-area affect… which could be expected to destroy [the buildings] entirely.”

@amnesty @CJTFOIR @CENTCOM .@amnesty quotes @CJTFOIR’s Lt. Gen. Townsend:

- “We shoot every boat we find. If you want to get out of #Raqqa right now, you’ve got to build a poncho raft.”

*BUT* - Most civilians fleeing the city had to go by boat - @CENTCOM destroyed all the bridges]

@amnesty @CJTFOIR @CENTCOM Wow - what a response.

1. @amnesty conducts extensive investigation & levels serious accusations at @CJTFOIR **regarding its air/artillery strikes.**

2. @CENTCOM’s reply = Amnesty only visited #Raqqa thanks to Coalition victory; “get [your] facts straight;” IED use has reduced.

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