International anti-ISIS coalition forces have killed up to 1,256 civilians, including 383 children and 221 women, since the start of its bombing campaign against positions and targets of the extremist group in Syria since September 23, 2014, a rights group said.
In a report released on Friday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that approximately 80% of the total number of victims were killed between January 1, 2016 and the beginning of May 2017. At least 998 civilians, including 304 children and 178 women, have been killed in this period.
The international coalition forces have killed at least one civilian every day since the start of their operations in Syria, which began about 1,000 days ago, the rights group said.
The Network added that as of May 5, a total of 51 massacres have been perpetrated by the international coalition forces since September 23, 2014. Of those 51 massacres, 34 were perpetrated in Raqqa province alone, up to 67% of the total number of massacres, and 12 in Aleppo province.
The international anti-ISIS coalition forces have intensified air strikes in Raqqa province since February 4, 2017 in support of an offensive by the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces launched in November 2016 to oust ISIS from Raqqa city. These airstrikes have claimed the lives of at least 297 civilians, Including 99 children and 51 women.
The monitoring group pointed that it has been working on following-up and documenting the violations perpetrated by the coalition forces since the coalition began operations in Syria on September 23, 2014. For this purpose, the Network said it has published 11 special reports that focused on the incidents where civilians have been killed and vital civilian facilities targeted.
Airstrikes by the international anti-ISIS coalition forces launched in 2014 and 2015 demonstrated a greater degree of precision and were more focused on targeting ISIS’s military positions, thus causing fewer civilian casualties. In contrast, the attacks that were carried out in 2016 and up until May 2017 were more noticeably indiscriminate, the Network added. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
