{"slug":"somalia-targeting-rules-civilian-casualties","title":"Somalia Civilian Casualties: Loosened Targeting Rules and Transparency Rollbacks","date":"2017-03-13","lastUpdated":"2019-03-01","description":"In March 2017, Trump designated Somalia as an 'area of active hostilities' — triggering relaxed rules of engagement that reduced civilian protection requirements. The designation allowed airstrikes without the prior intelligence certainty standards required in other theaters. Under these loosened rules, U.S. airstrikes in Somalia killed dozens of civilians documented by monitoring organizations. Trump also revoked an executive order requiring annual reporting of civilian casualties from counterterrorism strikes.","summary":"Trump's Somalia designation and overall loosening of targeting rules — including relaxing the 'near-certainty' standard for civilian safety — significantly increased the pace of airstrikes across multiple theaters. Airwars and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documented substantial increases in civilian casualties in Somalia under the new rules. The administration also reduced the reporting requirements for civilian harm assessments, eliminating the only systematic public accounting of civilian harm.","category":"extrajudicial-killing","severity":"extreme","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://airwars.org/conflict/us-in-somalia/","title":"US military operations in Somalia — civilian casualty tracking","publisher":"Airwars"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/31/us/politics/trump-rules-military-airstrikes-civilian-deaths.html","title":"Trump Relaxed Rules Protecting Civilians in War Zones","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.bureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-03-20/somali-civilians-are-being-killed-in-us-airstrikes-at-record-rates","title":"Somali civilians killed in US airstrikes at record rates","publisher":"Bureau of Investigative Journalism"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Somalia","civilian-casualties","airstrikes","targeting-rules","first-term","extrajudicial-killing"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-03-13","title":"Somalia designated area of active hostilities","summary":"The Trump administration designates parts of Somalia as an 'area of active hostilities,' triggering relaxed rules of engagement that reduce civilian casualty prevention procedures."},{"date":"2017-03-01","title":"Hiraan village strike — mass civilian casualties reported","summary":"A U.S. airstrike on a village in the Hiraan region results in reported civilian casualties ranging from 10 to more than 150. AFRICOM acknowledges the strike and says it is investigating."},{"date":"2018-03-06","title":"Trump revokes Obama drone strike reporting order","summary":"Trump revokes Executive Order 13732, eliminating the annual DNI report on civilian casualties from counterterrorism strikes outside areas of active hostilities."},{"date":"2019-03-01","title":"Airwars assessment: first-term civilian casualty surge","summary":"Airwars documents significantly more airstrikes and higher reported civilian casualties in Somalia under Trump than under comparable Obama-era operations."}],"location":{"name":"Hiraan region, Somalia; wider Somalia/Africa Command operations","lat":4.5,"lng":44.9},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"potential","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions","article":"Article 57","provision":"Precautions in attack — attacks must be cancelled or suspended if civilian casualties would be excessive; the near-certainty standard codified this requirement"},{"statute":"Geneva Convention IV","article":"Articles 27-34","provision":"Protection of civilians — removing procedural safeguards violates the obligation to take feasible precautions"}],"iccRelevance":true,"civilianCasualties":150,"victims":"Somali civilians killed in U.S. airstrikes under loosened targeting rules; monitoring organizations documented dozens to hundreds of civilian casualties across first-term operations","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States; authorized area of active hostilities designation","institution":"White House"},{"name":"James Mattis","role":"Secretary of Defense","institution":"Department of Defense"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2019-03-01","summary":"Updated with Airwars assessment of first-term casualty surge."}]}}