Syrian People Say Us Airstrike Killed Civilians

The article “Syrian People Say US Airstrike Killed Civilians’’ was written by an American journalist and a Syrian correspondent. They explain that a US airstrike tore down a building called Al Saraya, which is a government center located in al Bab, a city in Syria. According to Syrian townspeople, the US airstrike killed dozens of people, while US officials deny that any civilian died.

On the one hand, a leading newspaper called McClatchy reported that at least 50 civilians had died because of the strike. The newspaper could corroborate this number with the help of relatives, neighbors, and friends of the people that died.

Also, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, an organization that documents violations against Syrian people, estimates that a minimum of 55 civilians died, while another group called the Violations Documentation Center said more than 60 people died in the attack (including children) and 20 injured civilians were extracted alive from the rubble.

On the other hand, US air force Coronel Patrick Ryder said that local witnesses were confusing the US strike with the Syrian government attack, which took place 2 days earlier, but townspeople said they had not confused those two events.

Witnesses also described that the Islamic State, an extremist group and militant movement that has conquered territory in Iraq and Syria, took control of the town. They prohibited any announcement of the dead. That is the reason why the magazine and the two groups did not published the list of victims so as to protect relatives who could face arrest, torture, or death from the Islamic State for speaking to reporters.

They describe there were regular executions in the town. People could be arrested for the clothes they wear, the style of their hair, for asking too many questions, for allowing your wife to go out without the conservative Islamic women’s face covering, for smoking, selling, or possessing cigarettes.

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