30 civilians killed in anti-Daesh strikes in Syria: war monitor

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, separate US-led coalition and pro-regime bombings targeting militant hideouts in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor resulted in killing at least 13 children.

Heavy smoke billows following an airstrike on the western frontline of Raqqa on, during an offensive by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a majority Kurdish and Arab alliance, to retake the city from Daesh fighters.  July 17, 2017.
TRT World and Agencies

Heavy smoke billows following an airstrike on the western frontline of Raqqa on, during an offensive by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a majority Kurdish and Arab alliance, to retake the city from Daesh fighters. July 17, 2017.

At least 30 civilians were killed Wednesday in separate bombing raids by the US-led coalition and pro-regime warplanes on militant-held territory in Syria, a war monitor said.

Raqqa

At least fifteen of the victims died in coalition air strikes on a village near Daesh's stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The strikes this morning hit the village of Zur Shammar, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Raqqa on the southern banks of the Euphrates River," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"The victims included three children and four women," he added.

The US-led coalition is providing air support to Arab and Kurdish fighters battling to oust Daesh from Raqqa and the wider province.

Deir Ezzor

To the south-east, Syrian regime forces backed by their Russian allies are fighting Daesh in the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor.

Suspected Russian air strikes on Wednesday killed another 15 civilians – mostly children – in a Daesh-held village in that province, the Observatory said.

The dead were two families, Abdel Rahman said, "A man, his two wives, and their seven children, and a second family of two parents and three children."

More than 330,000 people have died since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with anti-government protests that have evolved into a complex proxy war.

The Britain-based Observatory – which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information – says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

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