US airstrikes kill 29 civilians, injure many more in Dayr al-Zawr

At least 29 civilians have been killed in the US-led coalition’s latest airstrikes in Syria’s eastern Dayr al-Zawr province.

According to Syria’s official SANA news agency on Sunday, the separate airstrikes targeted residential areas in al-Sha’afa and Dharat Allouni villages.

The number of those killed is expected to rise as dozens of people were also injured, some of whom are in critical condition.

The London-based Airwars organization, which tracks civilian deaths in US-led airstrikes, reported earlier this year that a total of 5,961 civilians had been killed as a result of such attacks in Iraq and Syria.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on November 23 last year that 2,759 civilians, including 644 minors and 470 women, had been killed in US-led aerial attacks against civilian areas in Syria over the past 38 months.

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The strikes, however, have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has on several occasions written to the UN, complaining that the US was flagrantly violating the sovereignty of Syria by targeting residential neighborhoods.