A USA -led coalition airstrike destroys what officials said were five militant targets near Manbij, Syria, on July 5.
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Officially, the U.S. has admitted to only a handful of civilians killed in the entire ISIS war, though rights groups have put the toll at several hundred, a figure that is only rising as the USA does away with restrictions on targeting.
“The [SDF] also seized a significant amount of the city during the operation, which provided civilians the opportunity to escape”, the US-led coalition said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This week in Syria, more than 20 children were reportedly killed in air strikes in Manbij and a 12-year-old boy was brutally murdered on-camera in Aleppo”, said Hanaa Singer, UNICEF representative in Syria. It said the strike was conducted by French warplanes.
It follows an intense backlash over the reported deaths of at least 56 civilians, including children, in US-led strikes on an IS-held village near Manbij earlier this week.
The reports and the disparate casualty tolls could not be independently confirmed because the area is inaccessible to independent media. There was no immediate comment from Washington.
In Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said US Secretary of State John Kerry had reiterated the West’s stance that Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave power, during a recent visit to Russia.
“We will not allow any crime to be justified under the pretext of combating terrorism”, it said in a statement signed by more than 30 armed factions.
Another activist, who wished to be identified only as Abu Omar, uploaded pictures depicting the remains of buildings he claimed had been destroyed in Tuesday’s attacks, as well as graphic images of dust-covered corpses, including infants. The photographs appeared genuine and corresponded to other Associated Press reporting of the events depicted.
At least 100 ISIS militants were killed and dozens more were wounded.
The U.N.’s children agency condemned the killing of children amid Syria’s ongoing civil war following the brutal incidents in the country’s north.
“Anyone responsible for violations of global humanitarian law must be brought to justice and victims and their families should receive full reparation”, Mughrabi said.
The head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria described the situation as “devastating and overwhelming”, with heavy and indiscriminate shelling and an “untold numbers of civilian casualties”.
Syria’s opposition party has demanded the USA cease airstrikes until it figures out what happened here. “In Syria, coalition military forces conducted three strikes using bomber and fighter aircraft against ISIL targets”.
Syrians battling Islamic State fighters in Manbij now have control of about half of the city, a spokesman for the anti-IS coalition said Friday.
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“We ask all Syrians, whatever their affiliations or sects, and all free people of the world and especially the people of Manbij to stand in solidarity with our devastated city on Sunday, July 24”, wrote one page that publishes local news about Manbij.
