“We tracked a huge increase in civilian deaths [from coalition airstrikes] in Syria in June above May, a rise of 72% from the previous month”, said Chris Woods, director of Airwars, who says at least 210 civilians were killed by coalition airstrikes in the battle for Manbij alone, as The Guradian reported.
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US-backed forces have taken control of 40 percent of Manbij after new advances against areas controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the key Syrian city near the Turkish border.
The Observatory’s chief Rami Adurrahman said another 13 people were killed in the strikes but he could not say if they were “IS” fighters or civilians.
The US military acknowledged Thursday that there may have been civilian deaths.
The U.S.is backing with weapons and airstrikes a coalition of local militias that are seeking to retake Manbij the area from the extremist organization.
The attack also left around 100 other people injured, who were then taken to hospitals in Daesh-controlled cities of al-Bab and Jarabulus, northeast of Aleppo city, according to the same source.
The Islamic State has executed at least 24 civilians after seizing a village in northern Syria from a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, a monitor said on Friday.
“This is a complicated situation, and we will continue to apply the rigor that we always do in terms of minimizing the risk to civilians, but we are supporting (SDF) forces because this is a critical moment in this campaign”, Cook said.
On Wednesday, the USA opened up a formal investigations into what is regarded as the single largest airstrike on civilians of the conflict and whether coalition warplanes were to blame.
US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said it had “initiated an assessment following internal operational reporting that a strike today near Manbij, Syria may have resulted in civilian casualties”.
CentCom said the coalition had conducted air strikes around the nearby town of Manbij in the past 24 hours and was looking into reports of civilian casualties. The town is encircled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
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Hamoud Almousa, a founding member of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group, said IS sought retribution from the village for “not defending Islam” when the SDF drove out IS earlier this summer.
