News / Syria

8 civilians killed in fresh US airstrikes on Syria’s Raqqah: Monitor

Wednesday, 30 August 2017 10:19 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 30 August 2017 10:30 AM ]

The file photo taken by the US Air Forces Central Command shows a pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles flying over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria. (Via AFP)

Fresh air raids conducted by the US-led coalition have claimed the lives of eight civilians in Syria’s northern city of Raqqah, a UK-based monitoring group says.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Wednesday that the death toll is expected to rise as some people had been critically wounded in the aerial assaults.

The US-led airstrikes in Raqqah have killed a total of 832 people, among them 204 children, between June 5 and August 29, according to the SOHR.

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The strikes, however, have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has written to the UN several times before, complaining that the US-led coalition was committing war crimes and violating the international humanitarian law by targeting residential neighborhoods in the Arab country.

64 killed in Raqqah clashes

Separately on Wednesday, the monitoring group said that 64 people, including 38 Daesh terrorists and 26 pro-government forces, were killed in fierce clashes between the two sides in Raqqah Province over the past 24 hours.

The recent deaths bring to 145 the overall death toll in six days of fighting in villages on the Euphrates River banks in the east of Raqqah Province.

Damaged building are pictured during the fighting with Daesh terrorists in Raqqah's Old City, Syria, August 19, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

SOHR Director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the Syrian forces were fighting to secure a foothold in Raqqah Province "in order to advance in Dayr al-Zawr.”

Daesh controls most of oil-rich Dayr al-Zawr Province, but the terror outfit is under pressure from Syrian forces advancing from the west.

Dayr al-Zawr is one of the few remaining areas under the Daesh control as the terrorist group is losing ground in Raqqah, its de facto capital in Syria.

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