Backed fighters advance against Islamic State in Syria’s northeast

At least 15 civilians were killed on Thursday in US-led airstrikes in Syria’s northeastern province of al-Hasakah, a monitor group reported.

Reuters reported that numerous casualties in the Observatory’s figure stemmed from a strike which hit a bakery in the provinces city of al-Shadadi on Tuesday but pointed out that it couldn’t independently verify these reports. The report – also quoted by the Saudi Al-Arabiya – was denied by a pro-Assad source and by Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s television.

“I do know that we’ve been striking at that area over the past several days”, Brown said. The U.S.-led coalition will begin assessing the credibility of those reports and start an investigation if required, he added.

Haddad’s assertion was immediately refuted by Washington, which leads a coalition targeting the Islamic State elsewhere in Syria, as well as Iraq.

The US-led coalition has been conducting air raids against what are said to be the Daesh terrorists inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a United Nations mandate.

The spokesperson said that due to “operational security”, they could not confirm details about ground operations involving the Syrian Democratic Forces, a predominantly Kurdish alliance that also counts Arab forces in its ranks.

The SDF announced on its Facebook page on Thursday (Friday NZT) it was launching another offensive, this time to capture al-Shadadi, a logistics hub for the Islamic State group, which is located on a network of highways.

The YPG has been the most effective partner against IS in Syria for the US-led coalition, and took swathes of territory from the group previous year.