A new report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights shows an uncomfortably high number of civilians killed by US military forces in Syria since they first started involvement in 2014. The current estimate is 3,222 civilians killed by the US in that period of time.
This includes scores of civilians killed in the 24 hour period Friday and Saturday during which US airstrikes pounded an ISIS held town in the far east. The US insisted the mosque they blew up was a legitimate military target, but substantial numbers of civilian victims were reported.
The death toll spans several provinces, but overwhelmingly is the result of the US supporting the invasion of ISIS-held cities and towns with heavy aerial bombardment. Those strikes caused massive damage and killed a lot of bystanders.
The Observatory’s figures, which are some of the most accurate available, included 768 children and 562 women killed in the US strikes. The Pentagon does not offer official figures for just Syria, but their death toll estimate for both Iraq and Syria is vastly smaller, with many of the biggest events never being included in formal US reports despite being well-documented.