Coalition strikes kill record number in Syria

WASHINGTON’S international coalition strikes in Syria claimed 225 lives last month alone, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It’s the highest number of casualties since the US intervened in Syria in 2014.

The recent collateral damage report notes that international coalition strikes aimed at Islamic State (IS) have claimed the lives of 352 people in Iraq and Syria since 2014. A US military spokesman described the casualties as “accidental”.

Stephen Townsend, a US general and commander of Baghdad’s forces, said that IS had “probably played a role in those casualties” by using civilians as human shields.

He provided no proof to validate his claims.

Meanwhile, a fact-finding mission in Syria has found evidence of sulphur mustard in samples taken from an attack on September 16 last year, the UN disarmament chief has told the UN Security Council.

Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said the Organisation for the Pro- hibition of Chemical Weapons, had deployed a fact-finding mission following allegations of chemical weapons used in the area of Um Hosh in the Aleppo countryside.

While the prevailing security situation had prevented the team from visiting the site of the alleged incident, it had been able to review analyses of blood samples from two female casualties reported to have been involved in the attack.

They were found to have suffered exposure to sulphur mustard, as had a mortar handed over to the team by Russia. ANA and teleSUR

PICTURE: AP Fayez Ghosn surveys damage in his house at the mountain resort town of Zabadani in the Damascus countryside after thousands of rebels were driven out along with the town’s original inhabitants.