A coalition of Syrian opposition groups requested the suspension of US -led airstrikes against the Islamic State terror group in Syria pending an investigation into reports that the campaign killed more than 50 civilians this week.
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Backed by airstrikes by the US -led coalition, Kurdish and Arab fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance are trying to seize Manbij from ISIS.
“We are aware of reports alleging civilian casualties in the area”, a statement from the USA war command said on Wednesday.
Coalition airstrikes in Syria may have killed as many as 160 civilians.
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the coalition would investigate the reports of civilian deaths around Manbij.
However, the us military has only confirmed 36 civilian deaths since last summer, a number that many who are monitoring the airstrikes say is far too low given the numerous airstrikes that take place daily.
The Observatory said the dead from Tuesday’s airstrike included 11 children.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the civilians killed on Tuesday were villagers fleeing fighting in Tukhar, 14 kilometres from Manbij.
Amnesty International looked into 11 USA -led airstrikes over the last two years and found that they resulted in the killing of 250 to 300 civilians, but the us recognized only five civilian deaths in those incidents, he said.
The aerial bombing, termed a “massacre” by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Tuesday, occurred near Manbij, an area where U.S. proxy forces are engaged in a fierce fight to oust the Islamic State militant group (Isis).
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria has been accused of killing more than 100 civilians since June.
General Joe Votel, head of Centcom said allies would ” continue to do all we can to protect civilians from harm”, at the same news conference.
Syrian activists estimate that US airstrikes on Tuesday morning in Manbij left at least left at least 73 civilians dead.
“No matter where they are in Syria or under whose control they live, absolutely nothing justifies attacks on children”, the agency said.
French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he had no immediate information on whether French planes were responsible for the air strike.
USA military officials are looking into claims that an American-led airstrike targeting militants in a terrorist stronghold in northern Syria this week haphazardly killed dozens of civilians.
Members of the predominantly Kurdish U.S. -backed Syria Democratic Forces have been on the offensive in Manbij for weeks, backed by U.S. -led coalition airstrikes.
This comes just one days after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured an ISIS headquarters in Western Manbij, that has been for long used by the radical group as a command centre and logistics hub. The United States have said they will investigate the allegations but will not suspend airstrikes on the city.
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Reacting to the reports of the civilian fatalities, the French Foreign Ministry has said it does not recognize the figures released by the Syrian government and would wait for the results of an investigation conducted by the US-led coalition itself.
