Counting the Uncounted: How Airwars’ Open-Source Verification Redefines Accountability in War Reporting

This project examines how Airwars, a London-based nonprofit documenting civilian harm in Syria, Gaza, and beyond, turns open-source verification into a form of data activism. Drawing on document analysis, media coverage from The Guardian, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera, and forthcoming interviews with current and former Airwars researchers. many Syrian refugees, the study explores how verification practices transform local testimonies into globally legitimate evidence. Preliminary findings show Airwars’ methodology has become a transnational accountability infrastructure, shaping official and journalistic narratives of precision warfare while reproducing certain communication inequalities. The project develops the concept of methodological activism, arguing that counting civilian casualties is not only technical verification but also an ethical and political act of witnessing.