Eleven civilians killed in Kurdish, coalition anti-IS offensives
A US-led coalition bombing and SDF artillery shelling killed at least 11 civilians on Monday, as the civilian death toll of the anti-IS operation comes under fire.
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Much of northeastern Syria has been devastated by US-led counter-IS operations [Getty]
Eleven civilians were killed and others injured as the international coalition along with the Kurdish-majority Syrian Defence Forces targeted the Hasakah area of northeastern Syria in two separate incidents on Monday.
Local sources told The New Arab that coalition planes struck the village of al-Jizaa in the southern countryside of Hasakah province which killed eight civilians and wounded several others.
Sources added that the death toll was expected to rise due to the critical nature of some of the injuries, compounded by the deteriorating levels of medical care in the rural region.
In another incident, three civilians were killed and several others wounded, the majority of whom were women and children, in SDF shelling near the village of al-Sayeh.
Sources also said many civilians have recently been displaced in Syria's northeast due to the renewed SDF campaign to oust remaining pockets of the Islamic State group from the desert region, which has killed and injured numerous civilians in the process.
On Monday, the Kurdish-led SDF announced the launch of the counter-IS battle in the southern Hasakah countryside, supported by international coalition forces and the Iraqi army.
The same day as the civilian deaths, rights group Amnesty International released a damning report on the civilian toll of the US-led offensive against the former IS capital Raqqa, located in northeast Syria.
The report, named "War of Annihilation," accused the US-led coalition of killing hundreds of civilians and reducing parts of the city to rubble during the 2017 operation.
The coalition itself updated a report in April recognising at least 883 non-fighters have been killed by the US and allies during its four-year-long operation against IS in Syria and Iraq.
Local sources told The New Arab that coalition planes struck the village of al-Jizaa in the southern countryside of Hasakah province which killed eight civilians and wounded several others.
Sources added that the death toll was expected to rise due to the critical nature of some of the injuries, compounded by the deteriorating levels of medical care in the rural region.
In another incident, three civilians were killed and several others wounded, the majority of whom were women and children, in SDF shelling near the village of al-Sayeh.
Sources also said many civilians have recently been displaced in Syria's northeast due to the renewed SDF campaign to oust remaining pockets of the Islamic State group from the desert region, which has killed and injured numerous civilians in the process.
On Monday, the Kurdish-led SDF announced the launch of the counter-IS battle in the southern Hasakah countryside, supported by international coalition forces and the Iraqi army.
The same day as the civilian deaths, rights group Amnesty International released a damning report on the civilian toll of the US-led offensive against the former IS capital Raqqa, located in northeast Syria.
The report, named "War of Annihilation," accused the US-led coalition of killing hundreds of civilians and reducing parts of the city to rubble during the 2017 operation.
The coalition itself updated a report in April recognising at least 883 non-fighters have been killed by the US and allies during its four-year-long operation against IS in Syria and Iraq.
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