“A coalition of Syrian opposition groups is calling on the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to suspend airstrikes pending an investigation into reports that dozens of civilians were killed this week”.
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US-led coalition air strikes are believed to have killed at least 77 civilians in northern Syria, prompting demands from Syrian opposition leaders to halt the strikes, which are meant to hit Isis fighters.
The death toll in the Syrian conflict, which began with mostly unarmed demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, has risen to more than 280,000 people, while half the country’s population have been forced from their homes, according to United Nations estimates.
Amnesty International spokeswoman Magdalena Mughrabi said: “The bombing of al-Tukhar may have resulted in the largest loss of civilian life by coalition operations in Syria”.
“No matter where they are in Syria or under whose control they live – absolutely nothing justifies attacks on children”, said UNICEF’s Syria representative, Hanaa Singer.
A U.S.-led coalition airstrike destroys what officials said were five militant targets near Manbij, Syria, on July 5.
The U.S.is now reviewing the incident.
A spokesman for the US-led alliance said there were “multiple national aircraft providing strikes in Manbij”. Reports from the ground also claim that a school serving as shelter for displaced civilians was also struck, and an unknown number of victims remain buried in the rubble.
In June, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, backed by coalition airpower, launched an offensive to retake Manbij from the Daesh terrorist group.
Oqab Yahya, with the Coalition, called on the USA government to “conduct an investigation” into the us air strike operations in Manbij, as well as to lobby Russian Federation to put an end to the “massacres” being committed by its army in Syria.
U.S.-backed fighters in Syria Thursday gave Islamic State jihadists 48 hours to evacuate their stronghold in the northern city of Manbij. It said the strike was conducted by French warplanes.
Clashes and air strikes continued on Thursday in Manbij, where SDF forces advanced overnight, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
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“The lives of Syrian civilians are being lost in their hundreds whilst there is a deafening worldwide silence”, it said in a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
