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Possible US-led coalition airstrikes kill 26 civilians in Syria: Monitor

Monday, 07 December 2015 8:01 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 07 December 2015 8:30 PM ]

Smoke rises in Syria's Kobani after an airstrike by the US-led coalition on November, 8, 2014.

At least 26 civilians have lost their lives in northeastern Syria in airstrikes likely carried out by the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh terrorists in the Arab country, a monitoring group says.

"The raids struck the village of al-Khan,” which is held by Daesh, the director of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said on Monday.

“But Daesh is only present on the outskirts of the town, which is why all of the deaths were civilians," Abdel Rahman added.

The death toll, including seven children and four women, was likely to increase as at least 17 people were unaccounted for and bodies were still being pulled out of the ruins, he noted.

The US, along with some of its allies, has been conducting airstrikes purportedly against Daesh extremists inside Syria since late September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

The air raids in Syria are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign against alleged Daesh positions in Iraq, which started in August last year. However, the airstrikes have failed to dislodge the Takfiri group.

This is while the US and some of its regional allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have lent staunch support to Takfiri groups operating in both Syria and Iraq.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The crisis has so far claimed the lives of over 250,000 people and displaced nearly half of the country’s population within or beyond its borders.

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