News / Syria

‘US airstrikes kill 11 civilians in Syria’

Monday, 03 July 2017 10:00 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 03 July 2017 10:01 AM ]

A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) walks amid the rubble in the suburb of Dariya, on the western limits of Raqqah, Syria, June 27, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

A monitoring group says 11 civilians have lost their lives in aerial bombing by a US-led coalition in Syria’s northern city of Raqqah.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that a woman and three children had been among the fatalities.

The group said the attacks had also left an unspecified number of people injured and infrastructure destroyed.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what it says are Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a United Nations mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

A child is seen among the Syrians who have fled areas under the control of Daesh in Raqqah, in the Jazra suburb, on the western outskirts of the city, on June 27, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Britain-based group also said the airstrikes had been accompanied by shelling by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab militants.

The group also said that clashes continued between the SDF and the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in areas in the southern part of Raqqah and on the northern bank of the Euphrates River.

Backed by the US-led coalition, the SDF militants first entered Raqqah on June 6. The fighters have engaged in fierce fighting with Daesh as they push closer on the city center.

Daesh seized Raqqah in 2014, the same year it started its campaign of terror in Syria. It then proceeded to capture large parts of Syrian territory.

But the terrorists have suffered major blows by the Syrian army and its allies in recent months.

The observatory further said that a Syrian man was killed in the northern countryside of Raqqah as Turkish border guards opened fire at him while he was trying to cross into Turkey.

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