U.S. Airstrikes Kill Scores of Civilians in Syria
BEIRUT (Dispatches) -- U.S. airstrikes killed at least 72 people last week in eastern Syria, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday.
The group reported that most of those killed in the raids were civilians, including 31 children, adding that bodies have now started to be retrieved from the site.
As many as 28 were killed in strikes Sunday in the village of Al-Shaafa, the London-based group said after the U.S. targeted homes.
The U.S. says it is supporting Kurdish militants in their offensive against Daesh’s remaining pocket of control around the eastern Syrian town of Hajin.
The Syrian government is wary of Washington’s role in the war, including its plans to carve out a "statelet” for Kurdish separatists in the country.
U.S. airstrikes pummeled areas near Dayr al-Zawr Thursday, Friday and Sunday, the observatory said, in the deadliest air raids since the Kurdish militants launched the offensive on Sept. 10.
The U.S.-led SDF group late last month said it was forced to suspend operations after Turkish shelling of Kurdish militant positions along Syria's northern border killed four.
But they said Sunday they were resuming their battle after "intensive contacts" with the U.S. military and "strong diplomatic activity" to defuse the crisis.
U.S. support for the Kurds has increased tensions with Turkey, a NATO ally that also views the YPG as a "terrorist” force and an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. The Turkish government has long opposed the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish area in northeastern Syria, fearing it could embolden separatists at home.
Daesh overran large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled. In Syria, the militants have seen their presence reduced to parts of the vast Badia desert and the pocket in Dayr al-Zawr.
Since 2014, the U.S. has acknowledged direct responsibility for more than 1,100 civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq, but rights groups put the number killed much higher.
On Saturday, the Syrian government wrote to the United Nations, demanding an independent and international mechanism to investigate U.S. crimes against civilians in the Arab country.
The group reported that most of those killed in the raids were civilians, including 31 children, adding that bodies have now started to be retrieved from the site.
As many as 28 were killed in strikes Sunday in the village of Al-Shaafa, the London-based group said after the U.S. targeted homes.
The U.S. says it is supporting Kurdish militants in their offensive against Daesh’s remaining pocket of control around the eastern Syrian town of Hajin.
The Syrian government is wary of Washington’s role in the war, including its plans to carve out a "statelet” for Kurdish separatists in the country.
U.S. airstrikes pummeled areas near Dayr al-Zawr Thursday, Friday and Sunday, the observatory said, in the deadliest air raids since the Kurdish militants launched the offensive on Sept. 10.
The U.S.-led SDF group late last month said it was forced to suspend operations after Turkish shelling of Kurdish militant positions along Syria's northern border killed four.
But they said Sunday they were resuming their battle after "intensive contacts" with the U.S. military and "strong diplomatic activity" to defuse the crisis.
U.S. support for the Kurds has increased tensions with Turkey, a NATO ally that also views the YPG as a "terrorist” force and an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. The Turkish government has long opposed the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish area in northeastern Syria, fearing it could embolden separatists at home.
Daesh overran large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled. In Syria, the militants have seen their presence reduced to parts of the vast Badia desert and the pocket in Dayr al-Zawr.
Since 2014, the U.S. has acknowledged direct responsibility for more than 1,100 civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq, but rights groups put the number killed much higher.
On Saturday, the Syrian government wrote to the United Nations, demanding an independent and international mechanism to investigate U.S. crimes against civilians in the Arab country.