Watchdog Says US-Led Coalition, SDF Failed To Protect Civilians During Offensive In Baghuz

Watchdog Says US-Led Coalition, SDF Failed to Protect Civilians During Offensive in Baghuz

A prominent human rights watchdog slammed on Friday the US-led international coalition and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for their failure to minimize casualties among civilians during their air and artillery strikes on the eastern Syrian town of Baghuz, believed to be last settlement in the country held by the Islamic State terrorist group (ISbanned in Russia)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2019) A prominent human rights watchdog slammed on Friday the US-led international coalition and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for their failure to minimize casualties among civilians during their air and artillery strikes on the eastern Syrian town of Baghuz, believed to be last settlement in the country held by the Islamic State terrorist group (ISbanned in Russia).

In early February, the coalition-backed SDF announced the launch of an operation to liberate Baghuz from IS jihadists. According to Human Rights Watch, satellite images have shown that most of the damage to the town was inflicted between January 19 and February 20, when a large number of residents had not yet left the area.

"Witness accounts of air and artillery strikes together with image-based analysis of air strike damage in Baghuz, raise concerns that US-led coalition forces fighting ISIS failed to take adequate precautions to minimize civilian casualties," the watchdog said in a statement published on its official website.

Local residents who fled from the area told the watchdog that they had been also shelled from the direction of the Iraqi border, where the Iraqi, French and US artillery is stationed, and from the territories controlled by the SDF and Damascus.

"Protecting civilians should be a key priority for the US-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as the Islamic State ... makes its last territorial stand in Syria ...The coalition should choose means and methods of warfare to minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to civilian objects, including in their choice of weaponry in populated areas," the watchdog added.

While thousands of civilians, including IS terrorists' family members, had already evacuated from Baghuz, some of the local residents are believed to be still trapped in the village.

According to media reports, dozens of local residents have been also killed during the coalition's airstrikes in the area.

The US-led international coalition has been engaged in counterterrorist operations in Syria since 2014 without the permission of Syrian authorities or the UN Security Council. The United States has, in particular, supported the Kurdish-led militia controlling the territories to the east of the Euphrates River.

US President Donald Trump announced last December that the US troops would leave Syria. However, no exact deadline for the withdrawal of thousands of US soldiers has been unveiled yet.