US-led strikes record highest civilian toll in Syria: monitor

A French Rafale fighter jet takes off from the deck of France's aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on December 9, 2016, as part of a US-led coalition against Daesh. (AFP photo)

A coalition of military forces allegedly fighting Daesh and other terror groups in Syria under the leadership of the United States has killed the highest number of civilians in a matter of one month since it began operations three years ago.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group mostly advocating anti-government forces in the war in Syria, said on Tuesday that the US-led coalition killed a total of 225 civilians between April 23 and May 23, the highest 30-day toll since the campaign began in 2014.

“There has been a very big escalation ... The past month of operations is the highest civilian toll since the coalition began bombing Syria,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Abdel Rahman said the previous record of casualties left by the air strikes by US and allies in Syria belonged to the period between February 23 and March 23 this year when 220 civilians were killed.

He said some 1,481 people, including 319 children, have been killed as a result of the coalition campaign, which lacks any approval from the Syrian government.

The US and allies formed the coalition earlier in 2014 to fight Daesh in neighboring Iraq, but they later expanded it to include territories in east and north of Syria. Damascus, which itself is busy fighting terrorists on multiple fronts, condemned the decision at the time, saying it violated Syria’s territorial integrity. The Syrian government has never sought assistance from the West as it insists that Washington and allies in Europe have helped the surge in militancy in the Arab country by providing direct finance and weaponry to certain militant groups.

The new Pentagon chief and US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis (L), meets with commanders from the US-led coalition fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria, during his visit in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, on February 20, 2017. (AFP photo)

The US military has admitted that the attacks in Syria have claimed hundreds of civilian lives, although Washington rejects figures provided by monitors on the ground and always tries to cut back on the number of the casualties. It said earlier this month that 352 had been “unintentionally” killed since the campaign began.

The coalition attacks in Syria have also inflicted losses on Syrian government forces and loyalist fighters. Abdel Rahman said eight such fighters were killed in coalition bombing raids between April 23 and May 23.

The coalition is currently focused on a push to retake Raqqah, the de facto capital of Daesh. The US and allies have provided direct support to Arab and Kurdish militants fighting Daesh although the move has faced direct criticism from Turkey, a main US ally which considers Kurds along the border with Syria a major threat to its security.