Fresh US-led air raid leaves 5 civilians dead in northeast Syria

In this file photo, a pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria. (Photo by Reuters)

At least five civilians have lost their lives when the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group carried out an airstrike against Syria’s troubled northeastern province of Hasakah.

Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Manar television network reported that the aerial attack had targeted al-Hussein village, located more than 650 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus on Saturday afternoon.

The airstrike came only two days after the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said US-led airstrikes had hit the village of al-Dablan, located about 20 kilometers southeast of Mayadin town, leaving at least 30 civilians dead and dozens more injured.

On June 26, dozens of people lost their lives when a string of coalition strikes targeted a jail run by Daesh extremists in Mayadin, located some 45 kilometers southeast of the eastern Syrian city of Dayr al-Zawr.

The Britain-based Observatory said the aerial assaults left 42 prisoners and 15 Daesh terrorists dead.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. 

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

Syrian forces regain control over several areas

Meanwhile, Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have dealt stinging blows to foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants across the conflict-ridden Arab country, establishing full control over a number of regions.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency, SANA, that Syrian soldiers and their allies had recaptured the strategic areas of Shahed 9 and 10 on the eastern outskirts of Salamiyah district in the west-central province of Hama.

Scores of Daesh Takfiris were also killed as Syrian forces destroyed the last militant positions there.

Syrian pro-government forces drive towards smoke rising from buildings after they took control of the northern Syrian town of Maskanah from Daesh Takfiri terrorists on June 5, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Elsewhere in Talet al-Sanouf district on the western outskirts of Dayr al-Zawr, an army unit thwarted a Daesh assault on military positions, killing and injuring dozens of the extremists.

Moreover, Syrian Air Force fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes on Daesh positions in the al-Rashdiyah, al-Kanamat, al-Huwaijah, Panorama, al-Thardeh, Aiyyash and al-Baghiliyah neighborhoods of Dayr al-Zawr, killing and injuring a number of terrorists.

Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored militant and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then.