A US-led coalition airstrike on the city of Raqqa in Syria resulted in the deaths of 43 civilians, including 19 children, on Monday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claims that Western air strikes on Raqqa have killed 167 civilians in the last eight days, marking a rapid rise in the death toll above what was previously recorded. "The tolls are high because the airstrikes are hitting neighbourhoods in the city centre that are densely packed with civilians," said the director of SOHR, Rami Abdel Rahman.
"There are buildings full of civilians who are trying to get away from the frontlines."
Coalition spokesperson Col Ryan Dillon responded by saying that ISIS is “baiting” the coalition into carrying out airstrikes that will result in civilian casualties. “In Raqqa, ISIS has posted children outside of known ISIS facilities – car bomb and IED factories,” he said.
The coalition relies on intelligence gathering from the air and the ground in order to avoid civilian casualties, he added, applying “rigorous standards to our targeting process.”
Dillon added that the accusations "would be taken seriously and investigated."