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The New York Times revealed a document issued by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) last week included new directives aimed at preventing harm to civilians during combat operations conducted by the army, and dealing with the resulting damage.
The document includes measures to prevent harm to civilians in joint operations with allied and partner country forces, but does not address the operations it supports. United State Alone with military aid, as is the case with war Israel on Gaza strip.
The 52-page document, which came as a follow-up to a pledge made by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reform the system, defines the responsibilities of the Pentagon and its military leadership around the world and requires that potential risks to civilians be taken into account when planning and carrying out combat operations.
Inconsistent application
It regulates an action plan announced by the Pentagon last year to revamp its civilian casualty policy, which has been inconsistently applied to different war zones.
The directives, widely seen as the first of their kind issued by a modern military, call for more standardized assessments of fatal accidents, allow for the reopening of previous assessments, provide options for paying compensation to families of those killed, and provide medical care and property repairs even “after time has passed.” These incidents occurred, according to the American newspaper report.
The newspaper quoted Brian Finucane, an analyst at the International Crisis Group and former legal advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the directive “is an important step in terms of institutionalizing and formalizing the remedies related to civilian harm and organizing them within the Ministry of Defence.”
Welcome the changes
According to the newspaper’s report, advocates for the protection of civilians welcomed these changes. Joanna Napoli Mitchell, a human rights lawyer representing 21 families whose relatives were killed in raids launched by the US-led coalition forces in… Mosul In Iraq between 2015 and 2017 – the US Army had previously acknowledged that the claims of the victims and their families were “credible,” but they were still waiting for responses from it to demands for compensation.
However, The New York Times believes that this Pentagon announcement came at a critical time for the president's administration joe biden. She noted that Minister Austin, during his visit to Israel last week, urged the Israeli army to take greater precautions to protect civilians in its attack on Gaza.
According to Health Ministry officials, the Israeli attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 20,000 people, a toll that experts say is hardly unprecedented in this century.
Israel bombs civilians with American bombs
According to the newspaper, citing an assessment conducted by US intelligence, Israel is bombing Gaza with American-made bombs, almost half of which are unguided munitions.
The “Action Plan” issued by the Pentagon last year includes a section on arms and security cooperation agreements with partners and allies to enhance the protection of civilian victims, but it is limited to programs under the authority of the Secretary of Defense. Arms transfers to allies fall largely within the purview of the State Department.
One of the main goals of this policy – according to the newspaper – is to help military commanders better ensure that there are no non-combatants before carrying out any operations.
This policy also places the burden of reducing civilian harm on officials within the unified military commands and policy-making offices in the Pentagon.
