BEIRUT: US-led coalition air strikes aimed at dislodging Daesh group jihadists from the Syrian city of Raqqa have cost the lives of 59 civilians in three days, a monitoring group said Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 21 children were among at least 59 civilians killed in the air strikes since Monday, after more corpses were dug out from under piles of rubble.
With air support from the multinational coalition, a Kurdish-Arab alliance on Thursday battled the jihadists in Raqqa’s Old City, of which it now controls 70 percent, the Britain-based group said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces also fought Daesh in the western district of Al-Dariya and the northwestern neighborhood of Al-Barid, as well as on the outskirts of the central district of Al-Murur, it said.
The coalition has repeatedly stressed it takes every precaution to avoid civilian casualties.
But it has recognized 624 such deaths in its air strikes since 2014, a figure which many rights groups say is vastly underestimated.
According to the United Nations, 25,000 civilians are trapped inside Raqqa, the jihadist group’s erstwhile de facto Syrian capital.
The SDF launched an operation to capture Raqqa province from Daesh last year, and in June the alliance broke into Raqqa city for the first time.
It now holds more than half of the city, but the fighting has proved fierce and civilians have been killed both in the crossfire and while trying to flee.
Dozens of civilians killed in US-led raids on Syria’s Raqqa: monitor
Dozens of civilians killed in US-led raids on Syria’s Raqqa: monitor
UN chief expresses deep concern over escalating Iran-US tensions
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for diplomatic engagement to resolve differences between the United States and Iran amid a surge in military activities and rhetoric across the Middle East, his spokesperson said on Friday.
“We are very concerned about the heightened rhetoric we’re seeing around the region by the heightened military activities, war games or just military, increased military, naval presence in the region. And we encourage both the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue to engage in diplomacy in order to settle the differences,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN secretary-general.
The call for restraint follows a formal letter delivered on Thursday by Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council. Iravani emphasized that Iran is prepared to exercise its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, promising a decisive and proportionate response to any military aggression.
Iravani further warned that in such a scenario, all bases, facilities, and assets belonging to hostile forces in the Middle East would constitute legitimate targets for Iranian defensive measures. The envoy added that the United States would bear full and direct responsibility for any unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences resulting from further provocations.
