Locals in eastern Syria report that US-led coalition airstrikes against
Baghouz, the so-called “last village” of ISIS, killed at least eight
civilians, all of them from the same family. The slain were reported as three women and five children.
Heavy US airstrikes against populated areas have been a recurring source
of civilian deaths in this last ISIS enclave in Syria. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights reports over 400 civilians slain since
September in this fight, mostly in airstrikes.
Kurdish officials played up the progress in and around Baghouz, which
they claimed to have captured last week, but are still fighting over.
Now they claim ISIS controls only four square kilometers in all of
Syria, a line from Baghouz to the Iraqi border.
This proximity to the Iraq border has gotten Iraqi forces involved in
some of this fighting, firing artillery at the ISIS forces to keep them
away from the border. Iraq has built up its forces on the border to keep
ISIS from crossing over.
US Airstrikes Kill Eight Civilians From Same Family in Eastern Syria
Strikes killed three women, five children in Baghouz
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.
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