US-led coalition airstrike kills 23 civilians in Syria’s Raqqah

An airstrike by the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh in Syria has killed at least 23 people, including a child, in a town near the Daesh-held northeastern city of Raqqah.

According to the reports, the strike targeted the village of al-Heesha, about 40 kilometers north of Raqqah, early on Wednesday, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Raqqah, on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, was overrun by the Takfiri terrorists in March 2013 and was proclaimed the terrorist group’s so-called headquarters the following year.

The attack is not the first US-led airstrike to leave civilian casualties.

In mid October, at least 15 civilians were killed when a US-led attack hit areas in the Daham Village near Suluk in the northeastern countryside of Raqqah.

Since 2014, the United States has been leading a bombing campaign in Syria and neighboring Iraq with the declared objective of hitting Daesh.

In a separate development, foreign-backed militants carried out mortar attacks on the village of Hadar in Syria’s southwestern Quneitra Province, leaving at least one civilian dead and several others injured, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

On Wednesday Syrian forces continued targeting terrorists across the country, advancing further in Aleppo’s western countryside.

A military source said that army units and allied forces managed to regain control over the al-Hikma School in the 1070 Apartments district to the west of Aleppo.

A number of terrorists were killed or injured during the operation, the source said, without specifying how many.

The 1070 Apartments district, a strategic neighborhood on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo, and its surrounding hills were liberated on Tuesday.

The recapturing of the area is considered as the most significant gain by the government in Aleppo since September.

SS