Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition have killed at least 60 civilians in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, near several cities known to be entrenched by so called Daesh militants.
While the coalition of 68 countries, including the United States, who banned together in 2014 – without authorization from or coordination with the Syrian government or the United Nations – continue to conduct bombing raids in the sovereign territory of Syria, the civilian death tolls tragically swell. Recently, an airstrike killed 18 civilians and injured more than 20, as reported by eyewitnesses to SANA in al-Tibeh, near the city of Mayadin, where housing and local infrastructure was damaged. “The sources added that more civilians were killed and others were injured due to raids carried out by the coalition’s aircrafts targeting al-Tayyana village near al-Mayadin city, the Water Station of Marat village in the northern countryside and al-Shmeitiyeh village in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor.”
A United Nations panel headed by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro of Brazil concluded that attacks have escalated since the formation the American-backed militant group called the ‘Syrian Democratic Forces (S.D.F.)’ and its surge to retake the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa.
“We note in particular that the intensification of airstrikes, which have paved the ground for an S.D.F. advance in Raqqa, has resulted not only in staggering loss of civilian life, but has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes,” Mr. Pinheiro said in a report, presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, and quoted by the New York Times.
Sputnik news reported in early July, that the U.S.-led coalition had plans to set up a ‘base’ in northern Syria: “Free Syrian Army (FSA) political advisor Abu Yacoub said on July 3 that the coalition will establish a military base in al-Shaddadi to help FSA-linked Maghaweer al-Thawra group advance to Deir ez-Zor. He added that the base will house up to 150 people.”
“In March, coalition spokesperson John Dorrian said Deir ez-Zor could become the next target of operations against Daesh after Raqqa. Deir ez-Zor had been encircled by the Daesh terrorists since 2014 with its residents living in conditions of humanitarian catastrophe. However, the Syrian government forces were able to regain control over a half of the city this year (2017). The Syrian forces continue an offensive aimed at lifting the siege and creating supply lines for the city’s residents,”
Meanwhile, PressTV reported that the Syrian government has petitioned the UN to intervene in the siege by Daesh extremists on the towns of Kafr Aya and al-Foua: “Damascus has written to the United Nations, calling for an immediate action to end the plight of thousands of people holed up in the militant-besieged Shia-majority towns of Kefraya and al-Foua. In two letters addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the world body’s Security Council, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates complained July 29th that terrorists have, for several years, blocked humanitarian aid deliveries to the towns, both in Idlib Province, under the “deafening silence” of UN human rights officials and bodies.”
“The catastrophic situation of more than 7,000 Syrian civilians trapped in an area of no more than 10 square kilometers has become a disgrace to humanity and the Western countries that have turned their back on the suffering of those civilians, most of them women and children, who lack the basic livelihood needs, including food and medicine and clean drinking water,” the ministry said. The daily water share for each family living in the besieged towns is only a half cubic meter while they are grappling with a lack of fuel, it added. The Foreign Ministry further said that Syrian children and women have been deprived of basic medical care, especially vaccines against communicable and noncommunicable diseases.”
“The so-called international community has left the people of Kefraya and al-Foua at the mercy of armed terrorist organizations operating in the countryside of Idlib with the support of well-known regimes and governments,” it pointed out.
“Terrorist groups are using the “stifling siege and the policy of starvation” to “exterminate” Syrians, the ministry said, urging a swift UN action to deliver food and medical supplies to the affected towns. Syrian army forces and allied fighters have been fighting different foreign-backed terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the Arab country since 2011. Over the past few months, the Takfiri elements have increased their acts of violence in Syria in revenge for the blows they have been suffering on the ground.”
R. A. Hameed/ The Islamic Post
