Syria: US-backed rebels in Syria capture areas in north from Islamic State (IS), air raids on Damascus suburb kill 20 people
A U.S.-backed coalition of rebels in Syria — including Syrian Kurdish, Arab and Christian groups — captured several areas in the country’s north from the Islamic State extremists as government air raids on a rebel-held Damascus suburb killed at least 20 people on Thursday.
Government warplanes and helicopter gunships struck the suburb of Hamouriyeh, which over the past weeks has been subjected to intense government airstrikes like other opposition-held areas near the Syrian capital.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were women and children among the casualties. The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group that tracks the Syrian conflict, said 23 were killed and dozens were wounded. Different death tolls are common in the chaos of Syria’s civil war.
Meanwhile, the advance Thursday of the coalition known as Syria Democratic Forces came as part of a recent rebel push to take control of a major dam and cut supply lines between the Islamic State group’s strongholds in northern Syria.