Anyone with access to an internet connection will soon be able to investigate civilian casualties caused by the US-led military coalition bombing of Raqqa during the battle to capture the city from Isis.

Amnesty International is launching a new project that it hopes will involve thousands of members of the public in its ongoing investigation into the destruction in the city.

“Strike Tracker”, designed in conjunction with independent casualty monitor Airwars, will allow anyone to sift through satellite pictures of Raqqa over the period of the battle and mark when a building was destroyed. Doing so will help investigators research potential war crimes.

“There is a mountain of evidence left to sift through, and the scale of the civilian devastation is simply too large for us to do this alone,” says Milena Marin, senior adviser for tactical research on Amnesty International’s Crisis Response team.

“With thousands of ‘Strike Trackers’ on the case to help us narrow down precisely when and where coalition air and artillery strikes destroyed buildings, we can significantly scale up our ability to map out the apocalyptic destruction in Raqqa.”

Around 80 per cent of Raqqa was destroyed and at least 1,400 civilians killed in the four-month battle that saw the the US-led coalition use overwhelming air power to oust jihadi fighters from their de facto capital last year.

Amnesty says the coalition has shown little interest in properly accounting for the death toll. In lieu of a proactive effort by the coalition to find out how many civilians it killed, the rights group has been conducting on-the-ground investigations of its own in Raqqa, which it claims has produced “compelling evidence of apparent violations of international humanitarian law”.

"War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Show all 20 1 /20 "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria A child injured by an IED explosion in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Children riding a bicycle among destroyed buildings in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Entire neighbourhoods in Raqqa are damaged beyond repair Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the house where seven members of the Badran family were killed in a Coalition strike on 18 July 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the house where seven members of the Badran family were killed in a Coalition strike on 18 July 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Members of the Badran family killed in three separate Coalition air strike on 18 July and 20 August 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria The city of Raqqa in northern Syria has become hardly recognizable to those who try to return after months battle between US-backed forces and the Islamic State terrorist group for control of it. The city has no running water or electricity and homes, business and public squares are mere rubble and debris Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Fayad Mohammed and his daughters Wafa’, Fadda and Tamam; Ammar al-Faris; Reem al-Maddad, Yusra Abd-al-Aziz, and baby Razqiya Habib; Jasim Hamal and Salem Hamad. They were among the 16 civilians killed in Coalition air strikes on 12 October 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Men wait by the side of the road for casual labour in Raqqa. Many end up clearing partially destroyed or damaged buildings, a very risky endeavour as many building were mined by IS and civilians are frequently killed and injured by mines Amnesty "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite images showing the Aswad family’s building before it was destroyed in a Coalition air strike which killed eight civilians, five of them children, on 28 June 2017 CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the Aswad family’s building after it was destroyed in a Coalition air strike which killed eight civilians, five of them children, on 28 June 2017 CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Amal Othman, 13, and her brothers Ammar, 8 and Mahmoud, 17; and Jamal Aswad, 41 – four of the eight victims killed in a Coalition air strike on 28 June 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Low-income district west of the Jezra intersection on the western outskirts of Raqqa city destroyed by the Coalition shelling started in June 2017 Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Ali Hassan Nafa; Mahdia Hashish and her husband Hussein Ali; Hussein Hashish, Mohammed Hashish and Hussein Ibrahim Hashish, and Mohammed Ali Hashish Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Harat al Badu, a built up area in central Raqqa, next to the stadium. It was the scene of the final battle in the city between SDF/Coalition forces and IS Amnesty International "War of Annihilation" – devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Map showing where the Badran, Hashish, Aswad and Fayab families were living before the coalition air strikes Unosat /Amnesty International

Those investigations led the coalition to revise its initial civilian casualty assessment for the city from 23 to more than 100. But that number is “just the tip of the iceberg”, according to Ms Marin.

“The coalition’s blatant denials and shoulder-shrugging are unconscionable – their military offensive killed and maimed hundreds of civilians and then left the survivors to pick up the pieces,” she says.

Raqqa was liberated from Isis by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in October 2017. The fighters faced an entrenched enemy and required overwhelming US air power and military support to capture the city.

During the battle, Isis prevented civilians from leaving and used them as human shields – a tactic which greatly contributed to the high civilian death toll. But Amnesty says the coalition failed to properly adapt its strategy to protect civilians.

In October, Amnesty claimed its investigation into the coalition’s air campaign in Raqqa provided “a strong prima facie case that many coalition attacks that killed and injured civilians and destroyed homes and infrastructure violated international humanitarian law”.

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A spokesperson for the coalition told The Independent at the time that “the cost of liberating Raqqa came at a very high cost”, but insisted there was no alternative.

“The fighting to liberate the citizens of Raqqa was often house to house against an enemy with no regard for human life that used IEDs and booby traps every step of the way, and Raqqa citizens as human shields,” said US army colonel Sean Ryan.