Twenty-one human rights organizations sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Thursday urging a transparent and robust investigation into a deadly strike in Syria last month that allegedly killed a Syrian civilian.
The letter, spearheaded by the Center for Civilians in Conflict, expresses “continued and serious concern” about Pentagon policies after a May 3 strike in northwest Syria targeting a top al-Qaeda leader may have killed a civilian who was tending to his sheep.
“Civilian deaths are not unfortunate anomalies, but rather a systemic problem requiring
committed leadership and accountability,” they wrote. “The May 3 strike in Idlib, Syria, demonstrates that more must be done to address years of systematic misidentification of targets, confirmation bias in the targeting process, and a widespread absence of transparency and accountability.”
The Defense Department opened an investigation into the strike around the same time a Washington Post article detailed how the strike may have killed Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, a father of 10, instead of a senior al-Qaeda leader, as Pentagon officials originally claimed.
U.S. officials now doubt whether the intended target was killed, but the investigation is ongoing to confirm the events of the missile strike.
The organizations in the letter — including Human Rights Watch and Win Without War — are calling for a thorough investigation that involves “proactively consulting, and giving significant weight to, external reporting,” including media reports and witnesses.
Human rights groups also want the results of the investigation publicly released and are calling for the Pentagon to “provide acknowledgement and amends in consultation with his family or representatives” if Misto is found to have been killed by the U.S. strike.
The U.S. has come under frequent scrutiny for carrying out lethal strikes that have killed civilians instead of intended targets since launching global counterterrorism operations more than 20 years ago.
But rarely has the Defense Department held any official accountable for the fatal incidents.
The human rights groups said if Misto was killed, the victim’s family should be reimbursed and individuals responsible should be held accountable.
“Accountability should also involve the steps the Department will take to learn from this tragic incident and ensure non-repetition in the future,” they said.