The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

U.S. accused of killing civilians in Syria

GAZIANTEP, Turkey &ndash A U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed at least 50 Syrian civilians in late December when it targeted a headquarters of Islamic State extremists in northern Syria, according to a witness and a Syrian opposition human rights organization.

The civilians have been becoming held in a makeshift jail in the town of Al Bab, close to the Turkish border, when the aircraft struck on the evening of Dec. 28, witnesses mentioned. The creating, referred to as the Al Saraya, a government center, was leveled in the airstrike. It was days ahead of civil defense workers could dig out the bodies.

The U.S. Central Command, which had not announced the airstrike, confirmed the attack Saturday in response to repeated inquiries. &ldquoCoalition aircraft did strike and destroy an ISIL headquarters creating in Al Bab on Dec. 28,&rdquo Col. Patrick Ryder wrote in an e-mail.

He stated a review of the airstrike showed no evidence of civilian casualties but provided to examine any further data, &ldquosince we take all allegations seriously.&rdquo

U.S. officials acknowledged for the initial time final week that they are investigating &ldquoat least a handful of&rdquo claims of civilian casualties as a result of airstrikes on Syria. &ldquoThis is a thing we always take seriously,&rdquo mentioned Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. &ldquoWe are quite mindful of attempting to mitigate the risk to civilians each time we operate, everywhere we operate.&rdquo

A subsequent e-mail from Central Command said the Pentagon had received nine reports of civilian deaths in Syria and that determinations were still to be created in four. No facts were provided.

But the Syrian Network for Human Rights, an independent opposition group that tracks casualties in Syria, stated it has documented the deaths of at least 40 civilians in airstrikes in the months among the begin of U.S. bombing in Syria Sept. 23 through the Dec. 28 strike on Al Bab. The deaths include 13 people today killed in Idlib Province on the very first day of the strikes. Other deaths include things like 23 civilians killed in the eastern province of Deir el Zour, two in Raqqa Province and two extra in Idlib Province.

The concern of civilian deaths in U.S. strikes is crucial as the United States hopes to win help from Syrians for its campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The deaths are seen by U.S.-allied moderate rebel commanders as 1 purpose help for their movement has eroded in northern Syria when assistance for such radical forces as Al-Qaida&rsquos Nusra Front and the ISIL has gained.

Rebel commanders say they have intelligence that could stay clear of civilian casualties, but that U.S. officials refuse to coordinate with them.

News of casualties from U.S. actions in Syria seldom seeps out from towns like Al Bab, which has a population of 150,000, simply because ISIL has been in a position to close it off by threatening to jail or kill these reporting to the outside world.

The Central Command, on behalf of the Joint Job Force, generally difficulties reports of airstrikes on the day they take place, but for a when was publishing its reports only 3 days a week. The Al Bab strike was not included in any of the summaries, nonetheless.

Central Command spokesman Ryder said the failure to list the Dec. 28 airstrike was an administrative oversight.

McClatchy reporters identified two sources who confirmed a higher civilian death toll from the airstrike. 1 witness, an activist in Al Bab, gave the death toll as 61 civilian prisoners and 13 ISIL guards. The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimated the death toll at 80, and said 25 of these have been ISIL guards and another 55 were either civilians or imprisoned fighters from other rebel groups.

Either number would make the Al Bab strike the single worst case of civilian deaths because the U.S. started bombing targets in Syria.

The U.S.-led campaign against the militants, who have seized about a third of Syria and substantially of northern and western Iraq, is being planned by analysts hundreds, often thousands, of miles from the battlefield.

 

 

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