US-Led Airstrike Kills over 33 in North Syria

Local Editor

At least 33 people had been feared dead in a US-led coalition strike on a school used as a center for displaced people near an extremist-occupied Syrian town, activists said Wednesday.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK said the strike south of al-Mansoura, a town occupied by Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] in the northern province of Raqqa, "took place in the early hours of Tuesday."

Top officials from the 68-nation alliance fighting Daesh are set to meet in Washington Wednesday to hear more about US President Donald Trump's plan to destroy the extremists' remaining strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

The US-led coalition had been bombing Daesh since 2014 and is now backing a major offensive to defeat the group in Raqa city, the Syrian heart of the group's so-called "Caliphate".

The school-turned-shelter hit Tuesday morning lies about 30 kilometers [20 miles] west of Raqqa.

"We can now confirm that 33 people were killed, and they were displaced civilians from Raqqa, Aleppo and Homs," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"They're still pulling bodies out of the rubble until now. Only two people were pulled out alive," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The UK-based group said it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

"Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," a group that publishes news from Daesh-occupied territory in Syria, also reported the strike.

"The school that was targeted hosts nearly 50 displaced families," it said.

Syrian state news agency SANA also reported the air raid, slamming the US-led coalition for inflicting "dozens" of casualties and almost completely destroying the school site.

Earlier this month, the coalition said its raids in Syria and Iraq and "unintentionally" killed at least 220 civilians. But other activists said the number is far higher.

More than 320,000 people had been killed and millions more displaced since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.

The conflict had since evolved into a multi-front war that had facilitated the rise of extremist groups and drawn in international powers, including the US.

Trump had ordered his top generals to craft an accelerated strategy to "eradicate" Daesh's so-called "caliphate", and allied countries are keen to learn more at Wednesday's meeting.

Coalition partners are expected to provide feedback on a revised anti-Daesh plan drafted by the Pentagon and presented to Trump last month.

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Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team