US-Led Airstrike Kills 52 Civilians, Including 7 Children

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a US-led airstrike aimed for ISIL has missed its mark by two kilometers, killing 52 civilians, including 7 children, and 9 women. An additional 13 Syrian civilians are missing.

Residents look for survivors amid debris in a site damaged by a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in the Al-Qtanh neighborhood of Aleppo on 1 May. Photograph: Mahmoud Hebbo/Reuters

The attack occurred in the northern province of Aleppo, and the deaths mark the highest civilian loss from a single attack since the US-led coalition began its war against the Islamic State in September 2014.

“[We] condemn in the strongest terms this massacre committed by the U.S. led coalition under the pretext of targeting the IS in the village, and we call the coalition countries to refer who committed this massacre to the courts, as we renew our calls to neutralize all civilians areas from military operations by all parties,” the human rights group said in a statement.

At the time the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released its report, it stated an estimated 118 civilians had so far been killed by U.S. airstrikes, and later reports state at least 103 have died since the strikes began. Since the report’s release, Morning News USA reported that the U.S. Military has confessed that an airstrike it launched in Syria in late 2014 killed 2 children. This is only one incident of four ongoing investigations to verify allegations of civilians killed in U.S. airstrikes. It should be noted the U.S. military is conducting the investigation themselves.

The U.S. has maintained from the beginning that their airstrikes were foolproof and would not involve civilian casualties, and yet the 52 civilians killed in Aleppo happened this month alone.

Government forces have had a series of setbacks in battle, and Islamist fighters are edging closer to Assad’s stronghold in the coastal areas. In a report from The Guardian, this violence follows advances in neighboring Idlib province by the hardline Ahrar al-Sham group and Syria’s al-Qaida wing, the Nusra Front, as well as other allied fighters.

Sources:

Euro News. May 2, 2015. (http://www.euronews.com/2015/05/02/us-led-airstrikes-kills-52-civilians-including-7-children/)

McCauley, Lauren. Common Dreams. May 2, 2015. (http://commondreams.org/news/2015/05/02/targeting-isis-us-led-strike-kills-52-civilians-including-7-children)

Tanquintic-Misa, Esther. Morning News USA. May 22, 2015. (http://www.morningnewsusa.com/us-confesses-airstrikes-killed-2-children-in-syria-in-2014-2321132.html)

The Guardian. May 2, 2015. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/02/death-toll-syria-climbs-us-led-air-strike)