US-led coalition denies reports airstrikes killed dozens of civilians in Syria - It's Over 9000!

US-led coalition denies reports airstrikes killed dozens of civilians in Syria

Baladai News - Journals

 The Military Times Journal published a report says that U.S.-led coalition denied the airstrikes it carried out in a part of eastern Syria held by the Islamic State group killed dozens of civilians, while opposition activists reported clashes Sunday between government forces and ISIS in nearby districts.

The coalition said late Saturday that it struck only “legitimate” militant targets, and that another 10 airstrikes in the area were not carried out by U.S.-led forces, the journal added.

Coalition strikes were carried out to support ground operations against ISIS targets, which were assessed to be free of civilian presence, according to a press release from "Operation Inherent Resolve," the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

“We can’t specify who is firing into the area for operational reasons, but we can say definitively these shots did not come from coalition or partner security forces, and are therefore irresponsible and dangerous,” said a coalition spokesman Army Col. Sean Ryan, according to the.

ISIS controls an area in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border where some 15,000 people, including fighters and their families, live.

U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been trying to capture the area since September.

The Military Times cited opposition activists as saying that Syrian government forces and Iran-backed militiamen have also bombarded the ISIS-held area in recent weeks.
In a statement issued late Saturday, the coalition said that it conducted 19 strikes in the area starting late Friday in support of ground operations against ISIS, the journal reported. It said no civilians were present near the targets it struck.

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