US airstrikes have killed more than 100 civilians, Syrian rights group says
A Syrian human rights group says the US-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State in Syria must be held accountable for the deaths of over 100 civilians in their bombings of potential IS targets since September. They’re demanding that US Central Command perform a “serious investigation” and stop issuing denials, Sputnik reported.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights detailed in their report that since the airstrikes began on September 23, the civilian death toll has reached 103 people, including 11 women and 11 children.
Most of those were killed in the bombing of a building used as an IS prison in the northern Syrian town of Al Bab, in which 51 civilians were killed, the report states. A further 29 perished in a bombing campaign targeting small locally run oil refineries, reports McClatchyDC, citing the report.
Despite the claims, which were substantiated in the report by witness statements, alongside video footage, statements from families, and the names of the victims, the Network’s director Fadel Abdul Ghani wrote in the report’s introduction, CENTCOM refuses to acknowledge the deaths.
“Regrettably the alliance forces’ Central Command denies that civilians have been killed by alliance forces,” Ghani wrote.
“There should be serious pursuit and investigation to hold the responsible accountable” and to compensate families of victims, so as to distinguish the US-led alliance from “the lines of totalitarian dictatorships.”