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US assessing reports air strike in Syria caused civilian casualties

The SDF, backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, launched an offensive to retake Manbij from IS on May 31.

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On July 19, as many as 56 civilians were killed in Manbej by French strikes, part of the U.S.-led coalition.

Critics of the US-led air strikes have accused the coalition of underestimating the number of resulting civilian deaths.

The U.S. military announced Wednesday that it would undertake a formal investigation into an airstrike in northern Syria that may have resulted in civilian casualties.

The US confirmed that it conducted the airstrikes in Ghandour, but said it is still conducting a preliminary investigation into who was killed.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says coalition aircraft struck the village of Al-Ghandour on Thursday night.

“There has been a lot of pressure on the militants in Manbij”, he said.

The US should be making sure strict measures are in place to protect people on the ground during complex battles, said Syrian Network for Human Rights spokesman Wael Aleji.

Instead, the official count now stops just short of the decision to dramatically loosen targeting restrictions in Iraq and Syria, and doesn’t account for several reports of large numbers of civilians killed in the wake of that policy decision. Airwars estimates that civilians deaths in Syria are under-reported by as much as 95 percent by the U.S.

The U.S. military said that more civilians may have been killed in another strike around Manbej.

Reports of further civilian deaths from coaltion air strikes come as attempts by attempts by John Kerry, the USA secretary of state, to elicit Russian cooperation in the fight against ISIL hit two serious hurdles.

The Defense Department has since buckled down on transparency surrounding its campaign against ISIS, and routinely releases figures detailing where, when and how many civilians have been killed by its airstrikes against ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

“Where it get a bit more confusing is how many others may have died in the event, who may have been internally displaced people that had been pushed out or may have left Manbij where the siege is going on at the moment”.

“The clock is ticking for the Aleppo population”, he said. He said civilians who leave the city risk being shot by government snipers or being detained due to their opposition sympathies.

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SANA said that a “massacre” occurred in the village of al-Ghandoura and “on the heels of this appalling crime, ISIS brutally murdered 24 civilians from the locals of al-Bweir village”, which is also located near Manjib.

Aviation crew load ordnance into an F  A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Gunslingers of Strike Fighter Squadron 105 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Gulf in preparation for a mission in support of Operatio