US-led coalition strikes kill 20 civilians in Syria, says monitor

This image made from militant video posted online on Tuesday by the Aamaq News Agency, a media arm of the Islamic State group, purports to shows destroyed houses following a U.S.-led coalition strike in the eastern Syrian town of Boukamal, on the Iraqi border. (AP)
Updated 19 April 2017
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US-led coalition strikes kill 20 civilians in Syria, says monitor

BEIRUT: Airstrikes by the US-led coalition fighting Daesh killed 20 civilians in Syria’s eastern Deir Ez Zor province, a monitor said on Tuesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came in two separate incidents on Monday.
It also reported 10 civilians, among them nine children, were killed in a suspected Russian airstrike on Tuesday on a town in the opposition-controlled province of Idlib.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.
The Britain-based monitor said a US strike on Monday night on the Deir Ez Zor town of Albu Kamal had killed 13 civilians, among them five children.
The strike also killed three members of Daesh, which controls the town by the Syria-Iraq border, the monitor said.
Earlier Monday, a US-led coalition strike killed seven civilians, including a child, in the village of Husseinyeh, the monitor said.
The US-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against Daesh in Syria since 2014 and is providing air support for a Kurdish-Arab alliance advancing on the terrorist bastion of Raqqa.
Last month, the coalition said its campaign against Daesh in Syria and Iraq had unintentionally killed at least 220 civilians, but monitors say the real number is far higher.
Most of the oil-rich province of Deir Ez Zor, in Syria’s east, is held by Daesh, including parts of the provincial capital, Deir Ez Zor city.
The terrorists have besieged the remaining regime-held parts of Deir Ez Zor city, trapping civilians inside with limited access to supplies.
More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-regime protests in March 2011.

Latest US sanctions target Houthi funding networks, Treasury says

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Latest US sanctions target Houthi funding networks, Treasury says

  • Since 2023, ⁠the Houthis have launched numerous assaults on vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be linked with Israel

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration issued fresh sanctions on Friday further targeting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen ​and the transfer of oil products, weapons and other so-called dual-use equipment that it said helped fund the group.

The action targets 21 individuals and entities as well as one vessel, including some ‌alleged front ‌companies in Yemen, ‌Oman and ⁠the ​UAE, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement.

“The Houthis threaten the United States by committing acts of terror and attacking commercial ⁠vessels transiting the Red Sea,” US Treasury ‌Secretary Scott Bessent said ‍in the statement.

The move ‍builds on previous Treasury action ‍to pressure the Houthis “vast revenue generation and smuggling networks, which enable the group to sustain its capability to conduct destabilizing ​regional activities,” including the Red Sea attacks, the department added.

Since 2023, ⁠the Houthis have launched numerous assaults on vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be linked with Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war on Gaza.

Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies, including on ‌the Houthis in Yemen. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Daphen Psaledakis; Editing ‌by Chizu Nomiyama )