Fresh strike took place in
same area where US is said to have killed scores in airstrikes last week
The U.S.-led coalition has
been accused of killing as many as 28 civilians, including a woman and seven
children, near the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Thursday—the same area
where U.S.-led airstrikes last week may have killed scores of civilians.
"The Manbij area,"
as the Associated Press describes,
"has seen extensive battles between IS [Islamic State or ISIS] extremists
and U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters." It is also where UNICEF estimated
last week that there are 35,000 children trapped "with nowhere safe to
go."
According to the U.K.-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the latest casualties came after
international coalition "warplanes targeted areas in the town of al-Ghandour,
which is more than 23 kilometers [14 miles] away from Manbij city, and the
death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical
situation."
U.S. Central Command issued a press
release Thursday in response to the allegation. It confirmed coalition
"airstrikes in the area in the last 24 hours," adding, "As with
every report of civilian casualties, we will review any information we have
about the incident."
The U.S. military said
Wednesday it was opening a formal investigation into whether civilians were
killed in last week's airstrike that may have killed
over 70 people, including women and children.
And on Friday, a maternity
hospital in the northwestern part of the country was
hit by an airstrike. It is not clear at this point who carried out the
attack or if the hospital was directly targeted.
According to the U.K.-based
charity Save the Children, which supports the Idlib province hospital,
airstrikes hit the entrance to the building. At least two people have been
killed, the charity told the Independent.
The news of the fresh strikes
comes after Russian and Syrian officials announced
humanitarian corridors for those civilians and surrendering rebels seeking to
flee the northern city of Aleppo, which is roughly 50 miles from Manbij.
According to U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, however, the
creation of safe corridors is "our job."
"How do you expect people
to walk through a corridor—thousands of them—while there is shelling, bombing,
fighting?" de Mistura said.
Human rights group Amnesty
International also expressed caution.
"For years the Syrian
government has blocked crucial aid from reaching besieged civilians while
subjecting them to the horrors of daily shelling and air strikes, using
starvation as a weapon of war and deliberately causing unbearable suffering to
those living in opposition-held areas," said
Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program.
"Providing safe routes
for those civilians who wish to flee Aleppo city will not avert a humanitarian
catastrophe. It is not a substitute for allowing impartial humanitarian relief
for civilians who remain in opposition-held areas of the city or other besieged
areas, many of whom will be skeptical about government promises," Luther
continued.
Transparency watchdog Airwars estimates that the international
coalition has killed over 1,500 civilians in its campaign against ISIS.
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