Observatory: US Airstrikes Kill Dozens in Eastern Syria

US strikes targeted a hospital and a prison

Aiming to support Kurdish offensives against the last few ISIS towns in Eastern Syria, the US has been conducting heavy airstrikes against those towns near the Iraqi border. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, this is killing a lot of civilians and non-combatants.

In addition to ISIS fighters, the observatory reported that Wednesday US strikes against al-Shafa also targeted a hospital, a prison, and several civilian homes. They reported 40 killed in those strikes, mainly prisoners, with the toll continuing to rise as more bodies are found in the rubble.

Further US airstrikes on al-Shafa on Friday were reported by Syrian state media, who put the death toll on those strikes at 30, including some civilians and combatants. The exact split, as is so often the case, was unclear.

This has been a recurring problem with strikes against these towns. ISIS has a lot of fighters within, but the US has little information on where they are, and are often striking despite cloud cover, hitting virtually random parts of the cities, and killing a lot more civilians than ISIS.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.