US-led coalition raids kill 12 civilians in Syria’s Hasakeh

BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 12 civilians — members of the same family — have been killed in US-led coalition raids on the Daesh militant group in northeastern Syria, a monitor said on Saturday. 

“The air strikes and artillery fire [Friday night] by the international coalition on the village of Hidaj, held by Daesh in the southern sector of Hasakeh province, killed at least 12 people,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

The civilians — including two women and their children — belonged to the same family, it added. 

The deaths bring to “20 the number of civilians killed by the coalition in 24 hours east of the Euphrates River”, said the observatory, which relies on a network of sources across Syria for its reports.

On Thursday, eight other civilians were killed in coalition strikes in Deir Ezzor province, south of Hasakeh. 

Daesh extremists have lost most of the self-proclaimed “caliphate” they once controlled in large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq since 2014.

Today, the militants hold less than three percent of Syria, according to the observatory said.

In Deir Ezzor, the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces — supported by the US-led coalition — are trying to dislodge the militants from the east bank of the Euphrates. 

The coalition said on Friday that its airstrikes in Syria and Iraq had “unintentionally” killed 892 civilians since its bombing campaign began nearly four years ago. 

More than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria’s war since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

It has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers and foreign militants.