US Airstrikes Hit Apartments in Raqqa, Kill 43 Civilians

Escalating US Strikes Lead to Soaring Civilian Toll

Jason Ditz 

Posted onJune 3, 2017CategoriesNewsTagsISIS, Syria, Trump

The civilian death toll of the US air war against ISIS continues to soar today, with the latest US strikes against the ISIS capital city of Raqqa leveled a large apartment building in the residential area of the city, killing at least 43 civilians and wounding many others.

US airstrikes killing dozens of civilians in Iraq or Syria have been nearly daily occurrences at this point, as officials continue to escalate the rate of strikes to try to “pressure” ISIS, and end up killing a soaring number of innocent bystanders.

As usual, the US has not publicly commented on today strike, nor indeed have they yet commented on destroying a hospital yesterday in the same part of Raqqa. Such incidents rarely make it into the official Pentagon list of civilian casualties in the two nations, which is usually around 10% of the actual death toll as calculated by private NGOs.

The US has made much of supporting the Kurdish YPG in a military offensive against Raqqa, but in recent weeks the strikes have rarely coincided with Kurdish offensives, and the large death toll raises growing concerns about US targeting policy in the war.

http://news.antiwar.com/2017/06/03/us-airstrikes-hit-apartments-in-raqqa-kill-43-civilians/