‘US-led’ Coalition Air Strike Allegedly Kills 29 Civilians

The US-led coalition air raids on fighters of the Islamic State in the Syrian city of Raqqa in northern Syria have killed 29 civilians in the past 24 hours. This occurred as American-backed forces battle the ISIS fighters in the Islamic State’s last big stronghold and their former “caliphate” in Syria a human rights watch group reported on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group reported that nine women and 14 children had been killed in coalition air raids on Raqqa city just since Monday. Apparently, according to this report, 14 members of one family, who were attempting to flee Palmyra and went to Raqqa were killed in the raid.

Because several others were critically wounded, the death toll is expected to rise, the group added.

A US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance is battling to overthrow ISIL, also known as ISIS, from Raqqa, its main Syrian stronghold, and has taken around 45 percent of the city.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment. The coalition has previously said it strenuously tries to avoid civilian casualties and investigates all reports that its attacks have killed civilians.

The coalition said in July that its attacks had killed at least 600 civilians in both Iraq and Syria since it began operations in 2014, a figure that is far lower than those given by independent monitors.

Unlike the city of Aleppo, the area around Ghouta is not surrounded so civilians will have the opportunity to flee the bombardment and the fighting. Many civilians have chosen to do so and many more civilians are expected to flee.

The advance thru Raqqa by the US-trained and equipped Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) has been slowed recently, on purpose. The SDF has said the ISIS fighters are using civilians as human shields are they’re attempting to limit civilian casualties.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia