President Trump is now doing the unthinkable – in his war on terror, he has resulted to the use of chemical weapons.
Multiple reports are confirming that a US-led Coalition used white phosphorus-loaded ammunitions in heavily populated cities of Iraq and Syria. Thousands of civilians are known to be in the areas where the weapons were used according to The Washington Post.
Use of such weapons violates international humanitarian law due to the types of injuries it can cause when other weapons are available to do the job. While white phosphorus isn’t exactly outlawed by the Geneva Convention, it is still illegal to use in densely populated areas. And, here’s why:
“When a white phosphorus shell explodes, the chemical inside reacts with the air, creating a thick white cloud. When it comes in contact with flesh, it can maim and kill by burning to the bone.”
According to Airwars:
“As many as 100,000 civilians trapped inside the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa are being given conflicting evacuation instructions according to Coalition statements and local reports, as US-backed ground forces finally assault the city supported by air and artillery strikes.Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started their slow encirclement of Raqqa last November. Artillery and airstrikes have rained down since then killing hundreds of civilians in the near region according to monitors, though the final operation to take the city commenced officially only on June 6th. In a press release published that day, the Coalition stressed that “The SDF have encouraged civilians to depart Raqqah so that they do not become trapped, used as human shields or become targets for ISIS snipers.”
Right now it’s unclear how many civilian casualties were incurred but so far the Pentagon has confirmed that the United States has killed at least 500 innocent people since it first started its operations. Many believe that’s a very conservative estimate and that the death toll is far higher. U.K. based Airways claims the death toll has so far reached 3,800 civilians.
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