Minister Brekelmans with relatives and victims in Hawija

The cabinet considers the attack on a facility of the terrorist organization ISIS to have been lawful, but it is terrible that unintended civilian casualties occurred and much damage was caused. On behalf of the cabinet, public apologies were offered last year. Brekelmans had already indicated then that he wanted to do this personally in Hawija. That happened today.

The minister also visited the location of the 2015 airstrike. He was briefed on two projects for reconstruction and rebuilding financed by the Netherlands. In 2020, the cabinet decided to support the affected community with these projects. Both projects were completed in 2022.

Brekelmans described his conversations with relatives and victims as “intense and moving.”

“On behalf of the cabinet, I personally apologized to them that unintended victims fell during the 2015 airstrike. Following the results of the Sorgdrager commission, I decided to make an additional €10 million available for supplementary projects. Work is currently underway to shape these. However, I am very aware that no form of support can take away the suffering.”

Last year, the Sorgdrager commission presented its investigation. The conclusion was, among other things, that intelligence during the attack on the ISIS target did not detect a large amount of explosives. As a result of the explosions, at least 70 civilian casualties occurred. The investigation report also addressed how accountability was handled afterwards regarding this weapons deployment.

During this turbulent time, Brekelmans also visited Dutch military personnel in Erbil and spoke with the commander of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR). The minister indicated that stability in the Middle East is a direct Dutch interest. Although ISIS was territorially defeated in 2019, the threat is not gone according to him. The organization still has terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Brekelmans expressed his appreciation for the important work of the Dutch military.

In January 2014, ISIS rapidly advanced in Iraq and Syria. The terrorist group committed brutal crimes, spread fear, and imposed strict Salafist rules. The Iraqi government requested support from the international community for the war against the terrorist group. This led to OIR. The Netherlands contributed twice to the air campaign of the operation. In total, Dutch F-16s flew about 3,000 missions. Weapons were deployed more than 2,100 times. The Netherlands thus made an important contribution to combating ISIS.