Pages

Saturday, 25 June 2016

Air strikes kill civilians in Syria's Deir Az Zor

At least 31 civilians among those killed

Dozens of people, mostly civilians, killed in ISIL-held Al Qurayyah town in Deir Ezzor province, monitor says.

 

Syrian and Russian air strikes have killed at least 47 people, including 31 civilians, in an ISIL-held town in eastern Syria, a monitor has said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that Saturday's raids hit the town of Al Qurayyah in Deir Az Zor province.

At least 31 civilians were identified among those killed, but it was not immediately clear whether the 16 others were civilians or the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), Abdel Rahman said.


"IS fighters have now set up a security perimeter around the residential area, where the town's mosque is located," said Abdel Rahman, using a different acronym for ISIL.

Russian warplanes have been carrying out an air raids in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

Meanwhile, Kurdish and Arab fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) overrun a key road junction in the south of Manjib city, an ISIL stronghold, on Saturday after capturing nearby grain silos overnight, the Observatory said.

"The grain silos overlook more than half of Manbij. SDF fighters can climb to the top and monitor the city," said Abdel Rahman.

The Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigades - one of the Arab components of the Kurdish-dominated alliance - confirmed that SDF forces had seized the silos and pushed into the city.

The Mills Roundabout lies less than two kilometres from the city centre. The Observatory said ISIL and the SDF were locked in intense street fighting as ISIL tried to defend their positions.