[ad_1]
AMMAN (Reuters) – At least 40 people, mostly women and children, were killed on Saturday during the latest wave of US-led coalition airstrikes against the state's latest state-owned pocket. in Syria, near the Iraqi border, with activists and local residents.
Asked Saturday about air strikes in the Buqan region near Hajin, on the eastern shores of the Euphrates, Coalitio spokesman confirmed the existence of strikes but denied civilian casualties.
Colonel Sean Ryan, spokesman for the coalition, said that "the coalition is taking great steps to identify and strike the appropriate targets of the Islamic State in order to avoid casualties among non-combatants" .
The news agency Amaq State, quoted by a medical source, reportedly said 40 people had been killed, an assertion also advanced by the Syrian media.
Families close to the region and the Syrian state media
Dozens of people have been killed in the past two weeks by the US coalition air strikes in and around Hajin.
The Syrian government protested just a week ago to the United Nations against an airstrike by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State, which reportedly killed 26 civilians in Hajin.
The fighting is the last phase of the efforts of the US-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to free ISIS from its last foot east of the Euphrates after the defeat of the group. Raqqa, its Syrian headquarters.
Report by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, edited by Louise Heavens
