US-led strikes kill dozens of Syrians in just two days

Dozens of civilians have died in two days of intense US-led strikes on Raqa, a monitor said Tuesday, as fighting to retake the Syrian city from jihadists nears its densely populated centre.

The coalition acknowledges it has pounded the city and surrounding rea with more than 250 air strikes over the past week alon in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance battling ISIS.

On Monday, US-led air strikes killed, at least, 42 civilians in several neighbourhoods in Raqa under ISIS control, according to

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says says 167 civilians have been killed in coalition strikes since August 14, including 27 on Sunday

the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Nineteen children and 12 women were among the dead, the monitor said. The Observatory says 167 civilians have been killed in coalition strikes since August 14, including 27 on Sunday.

“The tolls are high because the air strikes are hitting neighbourhoods in the city centre that are densely packed with civilians,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. “There are buildings full of civilians who are trying to get away from the front lines.”

The coalition says avoiding civilian casualties is its “highest priority”. During a visit to Baghdad, US defence secretary Jim Mattis insisted ISIS tactics are to blame for placing civilians in danger. “We are the good guys and the innocent people on the battlefield know the difference,” he said. But the coalition acknowledges an major uptick in its strikes on Raqa.