Civilians died in Mosul airstrikes 17 - 18th March

The Iraqi Army is currently fighting ISIS in West Mosul. Mosul is an enormous city in the northern part of Iraq. ISIS captured it fairly easy in 2014. Most of the Iraqi units stationed there at the time just fled without putting up too much resistance. The new Iraqi Army has improved a lot since those days, but they are still facing a tough fight.

The main Iraqi units involved are the ERD Emergency Response Division and the Federal Police. The Golden Division of the Counter Terrorism Service was heavily involved in the previous operation in East Mosul. The ERD seems to be the main offensive unit now. The Federal Police is tasked with holding the captured ground.

War Is Boring just posted a great article on the ERD and the Mosul battle. read here
(The ERD is sometimes called the Rapid Response Division.)
Second article here: Mosul city fight



The Iraqi forces receive air support from both the Iraqi Airforce and the Coalition. The UN estimates that 400.000 civilians remain in West Mosul. source One can easily understand how difficult it is to provide air support in this environment. On the one hand the goal is to provide as much as help as possible to the Iraqi ground units. On the other hand preventing civilian casualties is a high priority as well.

These two goals are to  certain degree conflicting with eachother. ISIS also seems to abuse this problem. Accoring to the UN, ISIS deliberately uses Mosul residents as humans shield to create tough choices for the Coalition and the Iraqi military.

Pilots follow rules of engagement and safety procedures to prevent civilian deaths. But sometimes things still go wrong...

On the 17th and 18th of March, airstrikes seem to have caused a substantial amount of civilian casualties. More than 100 people were injured or died. Fighters from several countries dropped bombs that thay, including Belgian F-16's. So far it's impossible to tell if Belgian jets hit those buildings. It is possible that other coalition aircraft are responsible.

Nontheless, the Belgian Parliament has requested information about the missions that day. The minister of defence, Steven Vandeput, has provided details in a confdential committee meeting.
Major General Frederik Vansina, head of the Belgian Airforce, stressed that Belgian pilots follow strict procedures to avoid civilian casualties. source


Jens Franssen, a Belgian reporter is currently in Iraq. He reports that the weather on those days was bad. Poor visibility is part of the explanation. IR targeting pods will have been less useful at the time. Also, strict rules of engagement apply to hit fixed positions or hostile vehicles. But when urgent close air support is requested by friendly ground forces, part of the ROE don't apply. Thirdly, the Iraqi army is now advancing in the small streets of East Mosul. The confined architecture makes a big difference compared to the previous battle for the open Mosul airport. ISIS could be firing from a house and in the one next to it, a family could be hiding. Lastly, the command and control of the coalition air assets takes place in Qatar. This means that CAS requests are transferred to Qatar. The available air assets are then send to the location. The pilot locates the target and drops the ordnance.

ISIS using civilians as humans shields, Poor weather. Densely build and populated area. The urgence to help friendlies on the ground. Complex command chain. It all makes it hard to avoid civilian casualties. An investigation has started both in Belgium and by the Coalition HQ.

Hopefully these drama's can be avoided in the future but the nature of the battle in a city like Mosul is extremly challenging.

UPDATE 25.04.2017

Reports in the media today claim that Belgian aircraft are not responsible for the deadly attack in Mosul. Jets from at least two other countries were active in the area that day. source