US-led air strike kills 21 Syrian civilians near Raqqah
Nearly two dozen Syrian civilians have been killed in a US-led airstrike near the city of Raqqah while anti-government forces shot down a Syrian military plane near the capital Damascus.
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The UK-based monitoring group said on Monday that the plane crashed some 50 kilometers to the east of Damascus.It noted that it could not confirm if the pilot was dead or alive.
"We have brought down a Syrian jet in Tel Dakwa area in rural Damascus and we are searching for the pilot," said a spokesman for Western-backed Jaish Osoud al Sharqiya militant group, Saad al Haj.
Meanwhile, pictures which are claimed to be of the plane’s wreckage and its pilot’s remains, have been posted on militant social media sites.
A separate militant group has also claimed to have downed the plane after hitting it with anti-aircraft weaponry recently supplied by the US.
The group added that the plane had crashed some 15 kilometers to the east of Bir Qasab between Tal Dakwa and Dumair airport.
US strike kills 21 in Raqqah
Also on Monday, the observatory said that 21 civilians were killed during a US airstrike while they were trying to flee the Daesh-held city of Raqqah.
"The civilians were boarding small boats on the northern bank of the Euphrates River to flee southern neighborhoods of Raqqah," said observatory Director Rami Abdel Rahman. He added that women and children were among the casualties.
"The toll may continue to rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition," he noted.
The US has been conducting airstrikes against what it calls Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.
According to latest figures released by SOHR, airstrikes by the US and its allies left a total of 225 civilians dead in Syria between April 23 and May 23 alone.
Daesh seized Raqqah in 2014, the same year when it started its campaign of terror in Syria. It then proceeded to capture large swathes of Syrian territory.
Thousands of civilians have fled the northern city in the face of a looming offensive by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Different foreign-backed terrorist groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011.
Over the past few months, Syrian forces have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements who have lately increased their acts of violence across the country following a series of defeats on the ground.
