WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The US-led coalition said on Saturday in a statement that it had detected 10 non-coalition strikes in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor amid media reports that the coalition’s air raids resulted in massive civilian casualties.
Earlier in the day, the SANA news agency reported that the coalition’s airstrikes had hit the al-Buqa village near the town of Hajin in the province of Deir ez-Zor leaving 40 civilians dead. Coalition’s spokesman Col. Sean Ryan told Sputnik that the coalition had conducted strikes in the area, which, however, had not resulted in any civilian casualties.
“CJTF-OIR [Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve] detected a total of ten additional strikes in the same area of Hajin that did not originate from the Coalition or partner forces. These strikes were neither coordinated with nor approved by CJTF-OIR. CJTF-OIR calls on all other actors to cease uncoordinated fires across the Euphrates,” the statement said.
The coalition once again confirmed that it had carried out airstrikes in the province of Deir ez-Zor pointing out that its activities had not resulted in the deaths of civilians.
“CJTF-OIR conducted a total of 19 strikes in the Hajin area between the hours of 11:00 p.m. on Nov. 16 and 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 Eastern European Time [21:00 on November 16 — 14:30 on November 17 GMT]. These strikes were in support of ground operations against ISIS [Daesh] targets in the Middle Euphrates River Valley. CJTF-OIR validated these targets as legitimate ISIS targets and assessed them to be free of civilian presence at the time of the strikes. CJTF-OIR’s initial assessment following the strikes is that there was no evidence of civilians near the strikes,” the statement added.
The US-led coalition of more than 70 members has been conducting military operations against Daesh terrorist group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014. The coalition’s activities in Syria are authorized neither by the Syrian government, nor by the UN Security Council.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
