The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Nov. 22 that US-led airstrikes in Syria have killed over 900 people since September—including 785 ISIS fighters, 72 Nusra Front militants and 52 civilians. Among the civilians were eight women and five children. Activists say Syria's civil war has now claimed over 200,000 lives. (AP, Nov. 22) In northern Iraq, local Kurdish officials announced that ISIS commander Mustafa Sulaiman Qarabash AKA Abu Husam al-Iraqi, held responsible for selling hundreds of abducted Yazidi girls, was killed in a coalition air-strike in Mosul. A KDP official for the Mosul area said 35 ISIS militants were killed in the strike, and their base destroyed. (Rudaw, Nov. 22)
Syrian regime air-strikes on Raqqa
At least 63 people, half of them civilians, were killed as Syrian warplanes struck the city of Raqqa, the ISIS capital, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Reuters) ISIS militants meanwhile stoned to death two men accused of being homosexuals at Mayadeen, Deir Ezzor. (MSM)
Syrian air-strikes on Raqqa contiunue
In three days of bombardment, Syrian warplanes have left at least 135 dead in and around Raqqa. The majority of the dead and injured were said to be civilians, including women and children. (Al Jazeera)
Syrian air-strikes on rebel territory escalate
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that more than 504 air strikes by regime warplanes and helicopters on areas around Syria in the past 96 hours. Targeted cities and towns include Reef Dimashq, Aleppo, Quneitra, Der-Ezzor, Idlib and Dar’a.The report claims 157 civilians were killed (16 children, 13 women and 128 men) with 500 others wounded. Dozens ISIS and Nusra fighters were also killed. (SOHR, Jan. 24)