DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb 12 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least 16 people were killed Monday, by a U.S.-led air strike in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.
Half of the deaths were children, who lost their lives as a result of the U.S.-led shelling on the Daesh-held areas, on the outskirts of Baghouz town, in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The shelling also led to the killing of 28 Daesh militants.
The attack is the latest in a string of air strikes targeting the last Daesh-held pocket in the eastern Euphrates river region.
Earlier in the day, state news agency SANA said, four civilians were killed by U.S.-led air strikes on the same area.
On Saturday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), started on the final stage of attacks against the Daesh in the eastern Euphrates river region in eastern Syria.
Following the evacuation of over 20,000 civilians from the town of Baghouz, the SDF started the operation against the remaining Daesh-held pocket in the eastern Euphrates region, according to Mustafa Balli, head of the SDF media office.
Balli said that the battle aims to eliminate the last Daesh militants in the town of Baghouz.
After losing the four sq km, the Daesh will still be in control of 4,000 sq km in the Syrian desert in eastern Syria.
The SDF have been on a crushing offensive to root out the Daesh from the eastern Euphrates region since last Sept, and managed, with the help of the U.S., to defeat them, in much of the areas they had controlled in the eastern Euphrates area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, over 37,000 civilians, including militants, have fled the last Daesh-held pocket, to areas controlled by the SDF, in the eastern Euphrates area, since last Dec.– NNN-XINHUA
