Activists: US-led coalition airstrikes kill 15 in Syria

BEIRUT – Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition targeting areas in Syria controlled by the Islamic State group killed at least 15 civilians on Monday, two Syrian activist groups said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people died in strikes on the northern Syrian town of Manbij, which is under attack by U.S.-backed Syrian fighters, and six died in a strike on the nearby village of Tokhar. The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, also said 15 people, including women and children, died in Manbij.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition.

The U.S.-backed predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces have been trying to take control of Manbij from IS. The U.S.-backed fighters have surrounded Mabij and are advancing slowly into the town under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

Also Monday, Chris Gunness, spokesman for U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said a driver who works for the agency in Syria was killed after suffering a shrapnel wound in the northern city of Aleppo. Gunness said Yaser Mahmoud Shuaeeb, a 45-year-old father of six children, died on Sunday.

Aleppo has witnessed some of the worst fighting in Syria over the past weeks and on Sunday, government forces were able to besiege rebel-held neighbourhoods of the contested city.

Gunness said that UNRWA reported two other incidents Sunday. In one, a mortar shell landed 600 metres (yards) from the agency’s office in Damascus. In the other, a missile struck close to the Nairab refugee camp south of Aleppo. The incidents caused no injuries, he said.

UNRWA has 4,000 staff working in Syria. To date, 18 have perished as a result of the conflict and a further 25 are missing and or detained, Gunness said.