28.03.2024

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In 2016, US dropped over 26,000 bombs in seven countries

21:54, 07.01.2017

In 2016, the US dropped 26,171 bombs in seven countries around the world, says an American expert on foreign policy and national security, Micah Zenko on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) website.

12,192 bombs were dropped by the US in Syria, 12,095 in Iraq, 1,337 in Afghanistan, 496 in Libya, 34 in Yemen, 12 in Somalia and three in Pakistan. 

Zenko emphasized that these figures are certainly underestimated as valid data exists only on Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, and one airstrike may include several bombs.

According to the expert, last year the US dropped 3,027 more bombs than in 2015. In addition, Libya had not been in this list before. 

Zenko and his colleague, Jennifer Wilson, collected data on Syria and Iraq, using the Pentagon reports and the online archive. They found out that in 2016 the United States had made 79% of the coalition air strikes on targets of the «Islamic State» (an organization banned in Russia - Ed.) in the framework of the operation «Enduring commitment».

In early December, the anti-ISIS coalition issued a press release in which it recognized the deaths of 173 civilians during the operation.

According to: РИА Новости