"First admission: previously classified documents show the involvement of Danish aircraft in attacks that resulted in civilian deaths"
Residential areas in Surman, Libya, were bombed, killing 12 people.
Denmark's Ministry of Defense said it would launch a review following evidence that its air force was involved in airstrikes that bombed Libya in 2011 that killed 14 civilians. This is the first time that any of the 10 countries involved in NATO's bombing campaign have acknowledged a possible link to non-combatant casualties.
As early as 2012, the Danish Air Force privately concluded that two F-16 attacks were linked to civilian casualty reports compiled by the United Nations, the media and human rights organizations, according to documents released by the Freedom of Information Act.
However, this recognition was not made public at the time, effectively preventing the relatives of the Libyans killed from seeking reparations or relief, as they did not know which country might have been behind the bombing.
Incidents in which Danish fighter jets were involved in NATO strikes and resulted in the deaths of non-combatants included:
On 20 June 2011, an airstrike in Surman, about 40 miles west of Tripoli, killed 12 civilians, including five children and a family of six. One surviving family member said the target was only a residential area owned by a retired member of the Libyan government, but NATO said at the time it was a "legitimate military target," despite reports of deaths among nonfighters.
2. On 16 September 2011, an apartment building was bombed in the city of Sirte in central Libya, resulting in the death of two people, one of whom was five months pregnant. Despite unconfirmed reports of rooftop snipers, questions were raised in the aftermath as to whether the attack was proportionate, given the civilian deaths involved.
The Danish Ministry of Defense said in a statement that while the incidents occurred many years ago, a review has begun. "The Minister of Defense has asked the defense command to assess whether these documents indicate such a great impact that the investigation should have been carried out within the framework of the alliance or NATO at that time," the statement added.
A newly released document, written in May 2012 from the Danish military and sent to NATO representatives in the country, states that "Danish aircraft have been involved in attacks specifically listed by the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, Human Rights Watch and The New York Times as causing civilian casualties."
"The possibility of civilian casualties cannot be ruled out in the course of carrying out these attacks," a previously classified Danish internal review concluded.
However, the review also raised the issue that "there is no evidence or indication that the Danish aircraft caused such casualties" because "there were no NATO forces on the ground to estimate the impact of the attack". Instead, Denmark relied on the observation of long-range pilots and other means of reconnaissance to reach ambiguous conclusions.
Further Danish Air Force documents, in Danish, confirm the participation of the country's F-16 in the air strikes on Surman and Sirte, which were determined on the basis of the date of each air strike. In each case, another country is also involved, but its name is still censored, which means that it may have been the army of the other country that dropped a deadly bomb.
Denmark acknowledges the fact that the airstrikes are involved, following a joint investigation by the Danish news website Altinget and the civilian injury monitoring organization Airwars.
One expert said the Danish military's failure to acknowledge the possibility of civilian casualties was a missed opportunity to raise the bar of accountability and to get victims to seek reparations.
Marc Garlasco is an adviser to the International Commission of Inquiry established by the United Nations to investigate human rights violations by parties to the conflict. He said what was revealed in the document was "quite infuriating" because NATO refused to answer questions about civilian casualties at the time.
"It's extremely disappointing that there wasn't enough transparency at the time to disclose it when it could come in handy," he said. This is useful not only in terms of learning lessons in order to save lives in the future, but also for the victims of these attacks, so that they can understand why their families were killed and potentially receive some form of reparation. ”
Aerial bombardment is at the heart of modern warfare, repeatedly used by the West against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, most intensively by Russia in Syria and Ukraine, and most intensively by Israel in the Gaza Strip. However, militaries, including those in the West, are often reluctant to admit when civilians are killed or injured.
Britain's near-perfect record of claiming that only one civilian was killed during its nine-year bombing campaign against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, during which 4,324 missiles or other weapons were fired, has been questioned by experts.
Photograph of people bombed in the residential area of Surman, including five children.
In response to Denmark's disclosures, a NATO official said the battle in Libya had been conducted with "unprecedented precision" and that "extraordinary caution had been taken to minimise the risk to civilians."
Although the official acknowledged that the risk "can never be zero," he insisted that all sites bombed during the operation were "legitimate military targets." NATO has no first-hand evidence of civilian casualties, as NATO soldiers are not allowed to inspect casualty sites.
"The Libyan authorities have not invited NATO personnel to come into the country to review the strikes," NATO officials said. ”
Ten countries were involved in the bombing mission, including six from Europe, as part of the NATO-led "Joint Protection Operation". The operation, the code name for the Western intervention in Libya, began on March 31, 2011 and lasted for six months.
The action propelled dictator Muammar Gaddafi to power, but it also sparked a long period of instability in the North African country, which remained divided into East and West after a period of civil war.
In addition to Denmark, the countries involved in the bombing of targets in Libya include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Norway (all NATO members), Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At that time, Danish Anders F. Rasmussen was the head of NATO.
Khaled al-Hamedi, whose wife and two children were killed in the air strikes in Surman, had tried to file claims against NATO.
In addition to Denmark, other incidents involving NATO airstrikes have been linked to civilian casualties, including the bombing of Magar on 8 August 2011. A UN investigation concluded that the initial bombardment resulted in the deaths of 16 civilians, and then a follow-up attack resulted in the deaths of another 18 after rescuers arrived.
So far, none of the countries have acknowledged the involvement of their air forces in specific bombing incidents, covering their activities under the name of NATO. As a result, the families of the victims are unable to seek redress in the courts of the country.
Khalid Al-Hamidi, who had tried to file a claim against NATO, was one of them, but in 2017 the Belgian Court of Appeal concluded that the military alliance had immunity from prosecution and the claim failed.
The attack targeted a large family home owned by Hamidi's father, a senior official of the Muammar el-Qaddafi regime with ties to the Libyan leader's family. The young Hamidi described the site as a residential area, while NATO said it was a command and control node.
After seeing the documents, he said he would discuss with his lawyer whether to file a claim against the Danish military. "I hope that they will first announce the mistake to us," he said, and in addition to seeking compensation, he hopes that Denmark or the responsible party, "will also apologize." ”
Khalid Al-Hamidi is reviewing previously classified military reports.
Denmark, like other Western countries, has a policy that an officer known as a "red card holder" can refuse to allow the country's air force to perform a mission, as stated in the Danish document, "suspected of potentially leading to civilian casualties." Pilots were supposed to terminate the mission if there was a suspicion that the attack would result in civilian casualties.
Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day, a British public law firm, said that if the military is unwilling to investigate reports of civilian casualties and admit wrongdoing, they risk giving the impression that they are above the law.
"In military operations where civilian casualties are alleged, these allegations must be properly investigated, and victims should be provided with adequate information to seek redress under international and domestic legal mechanisms," she said. Lack of transparency can lead to the spread of a culture that cannot be punished. ”