The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said US -led air strikes in support of the ground operation killed 15 civilians including three children near Manbij in the past 24 hours.
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Thousands of USA -backed fighters opened a major new front in Syria’s war, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base, and were reported on Wednesday to be making rapid progress.
An earlier cease-fire that went into effect in late February brought relief to some opposition areas but frayed by late April.
A 36-truck aid convoy entered neighboring Moadamiyeh, which is also under government siege, at around the same time, carrying food.
Two United Nations humanitarian officials expressed deep concerned over the fate of an estimated 8,000 Syrians trapped by fighting around the towns of Mare’a and Sheikh Issa in northern Aleppo Governorate following advances in the past three days by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) into areas controlled by non-State armed groups.
The rebels, who are supplied via Turkey, staged a major push against ISIL last month, but the terror group counter-attacked.
However, the Observatory said the Kurdish YPG militia made up the majority of the fighters taking part in the SDF assault.
Air strikes on the Syrian city of Idlib killed and injured more than 150 people on Monday evening, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to Reuters.
The Observatory said USA -led air strikes in support of the ground operation killed 15 civilians including three children near Manbij in the last 24 hours.
He said the target of the offensive was the town of Tabqa and its adjacent dam on the Euphrates River, which lie some 40 kilometres (25 miles) upstream.
The planes that struck the rebel-held city were believed to be Russian, the war monitor said, Reuters reported.
The Anadolu Agency, citing military officials, said Wednesday that the strikes by US -led coalition jets targeted IS positions north of the city of Aleppo, destroying a tank, two mortar positions, a headquarters’ building and three vehicles.
It said the strikes came after Turkey’s military had determined that ISIS was preparing to attack Turkish territory from the region.
The report could not be independently verified.
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A proposed rebel assault to retake two Islamic State strongholds in northwestern Syria is bumping up against Turkey’s opposition to Kurdish participation in the campaign. The deployment was originally expected in May to help counter cross-border bombardments that have killed 21 people since January 18.
