An analysis of where UK Special Forces have been deployed since 2011
Britain’s Special Forces have been deployed operationally in at least 19 countries in the past decade, new analysis reveals, raising questions over the degree of transparency and democratic consent these shadowy units operate under. Mapping, undertaken by research charity Action on Armed Violence, shows that, since 2011, UK’ Special Forces (UKSF) have been primed to contact […]
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The Guardian’s editorial on SAS killings: a response
Special Forces Watch welcomes The Guardian’s editorial commentary on BBC Panorama’s July 2022 programme detailing alleged SAS war crimes in Afghanistan. This programme was produced in parallel with the report “Killing in the Shadows” by Action on Armed Violence. The Guardian’s article states that “there is prima facie evidence that Britain’s soldiers have committed war […]
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‘Men Apart, Every Man an Emperor’: the culture of exceptionalism in the UK’s Special Forces examined
In 1950, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, then-Chairman of the NATO military predecessor known as the Western Union Defence Organisation, penned a declaration that would capture the cultural ethos of British special operators: “They are, in fact, men apart – every man an Emperor.” Though Montgomery spoke here of the wartime Parachute Regiment, an organisation which today […]
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Britain’s Special Forces deployed operationally in at least 19 countries in a decade, research reveals
Britain’s Special Forces have been deployed operationally in at least 19 countries in the past decade, new analysis reveals, raising questions over the degree of transparency and democratic consent these shadowy units operate under. Mapping, undertaken by research charity Action on Armed Violence, shows that, since 2011, UK’ Special Forces (UKSF) have been primed to […]
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A Decade of UK Special Forces Operations Examined
Britain’s Special Forces have been deployed operationally in at least 19 countries in the past decade, new analysis reveals, raising questions over the degree of transparency and democratic consent these shadowy units operate under. Mapping, undertaken by research charity Action on Armed Violence, shows that, since 2011, UKSF have been primed to contact or surveil […]
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SAS war crimes? How an investigation into extrajudicial killings revealed a culture of impunity at the heart of the British Army
By Murray Jones Shocking new evidence of multiple UK Special Air Service (SAS) war crimes in Afghanistan, with subsequent investigation into the extrajudicial killings characterised by basic failures, has come to light. For the past 20 months, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) has been examining allegations of extrajudicial killings by British Special Forces, alongside a […]
Read MoreKilling in the Shadows: Exposing Britain’s failure to investigate Special Forces war crimes in Afghanistan
Shocking new evidence of multiple SAS war crimes in Afghanistan, with the subsequent investigation into extrajudicial killings characterised by basic failures, has been revealed. For the past 20 months, at Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) we have been examining allegations of extrajudicial killings by British Special Forces (UKSF), alongside a long-running BBC Panorama investigation. As […]
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Killing in the Shadows
British special forces killed hundreds of people on night raids in Afghanistan, but were some of the shootings extra-judicial executions? Shocking new evidence of multiple SAS killings of detainees and unarmed men in suspicious circumstances in Afghanistan, with the subsequent investigation into extrajudicial killings characterised by basic failures, has been revealed. For the past 20 […]
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