Backed Syria fighters give IS 48 hours to leave town

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

The civilian casualty death toll for the United States-led coalition in Syria is rising, and the public must hold the government accountable.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called the incident a “massacre” and said still more civilians were injured.

A Facebook page that covers Manbij posted two photographs of a few dozen people, mostly women and children, saying they “risked their lives” to flee the town’s southern neighborhood of Hazawneh.

However, General Votel stressed that the alleged coalition airstrikes that killed civilians is no indictment of the intelligence community.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on July 20 pledged openness on allied accountability a day after dozens of civilians were killed in raids near an ISIL-held town in Syria. The city has seen fierce fighting as the Syrian Arab Coalition, backed by USA and coalition airpower, attempts to oust ISIS from a city it uses for access to the Turkish border.

SNC president Anas al-Abdah warned the deaths of civilians as a result of strikes by the US-led coalition would be a “recruitment tool for terrorist organisations”.

The death toll still remains in dispute.

“There must be a prompt, independent and transparent investigation to determine what happened, who was responsible, and how to avoid further needless loss of civilian life”, said interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program Magdalena Mughrabi.

The Pentagon has acknowledged 41 civilian deaths in its strikes in both Syria and Iraq since 2014, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported more than 450 civilian killed in USA -led raids in Syria alone.

“Anyone responsible for violations of worldwide humanitarian law must be brought to justice and victims and their families should receive full reparation”, Amnesty’s interim Middle East director Magdalena Mughrabi said, Reuters reports.

The strike was part of USA attempts to claim the town of Manbij, a key site in northern Syria.

“Around Manbij, the Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC – Arab groups within the SDF), which is leading that fight, is being very slow and deliberate in that fight to protect civilians which we know are inside”. But since then, many more have died, and the number of fatalities due to airstrikes on Manbij’s al-Tukhar village is now at least 210, said Yousef Houran, a co-founder of the group and a resident of nearby Aleppo.

CENTCOM said the coalition conducted 18 strikes on Monday and destroyed 13 IS fighting positions, seven IS vehicles and two auto bombs near Manbij.

The U.S. says it’s investigating.

The SDF, a coalition force dominated by the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), launched an offensive to retake Manbij in late May.