Intel: CENTCOM disputes watchdog report on Yemen civilian casualties
The US military denied involvement in dozens of incidents in which civilians were reportedly killed.
US Central Command on Thursday largely dismissed the conclusions of a watchdog report on the number of civilians allegedly killed by the US military in Yemen since President Donald Trump took office.
The report, published last week by the United Kingdom-based nongovernmental organization Airwars, concluded that at least 86 non-combatants were credibly reported to have been killed during US operations in Yemen since 2017. The group also concluded the majority of those alleged deaths occurred shortly after Trump rolled back engagement restrictions for the US military in certain conflicts.
“US CENTCOM conducted a thorough review of the information Airwars provided,” spokesperson US Navy Capt. Bill Urban told Al-Monitor via email. “Of the information Airwars provided, one strike on September 14, 2017, was assessed to have caused injuries to two civilians.”
"The bulk of the information asserted by Airwars, however, did not correspond with dates and locations of US military strikes or raids in Yemen,” Urban wrote. “Other Airwars allegations either did not allege civilian harm or were not assessed as credible upon our review,” he wrote.
