Fighting in north Syria town after IS ignore offer to leave

Garver said the Syrian Arab Coalition had observed a convoy of armed Islamic State fighters “who appeared to be readying for a counterattack against SAC troops in the area” and called in a coalition strike against IS buildings and vehicles.

US -backed Syrian fighters on Thursday gave Islamic State militants 48 hours to leave an encircled town near the Turkish border without a fight, in a last bid effort to protect civilian lives, according to a statement issued by the group.

The alliance has been fighting to oust ISIL from the town since late May, backed by heavy coalition air strikes.

Coalition airstrikes in Syria may have killed as many as 160 civilians.

The terror group, also known as Daesh in Arabic, is outlawed in the United States, Russia and many other nations.

Amnesty International (AI) sided with them and accused the International Anti-ISIS Coalition of failing to take the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has promised a “transparent investigation into possible civilian deaths”, as Alison reports.

Such attacks by coalition Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a joint Kurdish, Arab and USA group, have been commonplace over the last seven weeks as they try to wrest the Manbij area from Islamic State control.

FRENCH President Francois Hollande claimed yesterday that he did not know whether his country’s air force had killed 125 civilians by bombing a Syrian village on Tuesday.

A statement from the Manbij Military Council said the Islamic State militants would be allowed to leave the city with light weapons, without a fight.

“We are aware of reports alleging civilian casualties in the area”, said Pentagon spokesman U.S. Marine Maj.

Residents in the area blamed the USA -led coalition for the strikes that targeted two villages, Tokhar and Hoshariyeh, which are controlled by IS, activists said.

Airwars estimates anywhere from 150 to 165 civilians have been killed since June 10, including a significant number of women and children.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 children were included in the dead from Tuesday’s strike.

Asked about the strike, the coalition said it had “conducted air strikes near Manbij. recently” and that it was looking into the reports alleging civilian casualties.

“We are striking in the framework of the coalition and are very careful in our strikes”, he told reporters.

Another Manbij-affiliated Facebook page posted photographs of protesters holding a rally in the Syrian western city of Azaz.

The Syrian foreign ministry said Tuesday’s airstrike on the village of Toukhar north of Manbij was carried out by French forces, while Monday’s strike was by US jets.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday said that children were among at least 56 civilians killed in strikes by the coalition as they fled Al-Tukhar in Aleppo province, near the key IS stronghold of Manbij.