PHOTO: US airstrike near Kobane, November 17, 2014 (Associated Press)
LATEST: Regime — Turkey’s Intervention in Syria is Like Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians
Continuing an escalation of airstrikes against the Islamic State, the US-led coalition expanded the operations on Sunday into eastern Syria, according to activists.
The Local Coordination Committees reported “more than 20 missiles” in Deir Ez Zor Province, including the eastern suburbs of Deir Ez Zor city, al-Mayadeen, and checkpoints and bases near oilfields and in villages taken from the al-Sheitat tribe.
Between Thursday and Saturday, the US military said the coalition had launched 16 attacks, but all of these were near Kobane, the Kurdish center in northern Syria under Islamic State assault since September.
The latest attacks came amid claims that coalition airstrikes killed at least 50 civilians in late December in al-Bab in Aleppo Province.
The civilians were being held in a makeshift prison in an Islamic State headquarters when it was levelled.
The US Central Command confirmed the attack on Saturday, “Coalition aircraft did strike and destroy an ISIL headquarters building in Al Bab on Dec. 28.”
Colonel Patrick S. Ryder asserted that a review of the airstrike showed no evidence of civilian casualties but offered to examine additional information.
Central Command said last week that it had received nine reports of civilian deaths in Syria and determinations were still to be made in four of those. No details of the incidents were given.
US missiles killed at least 14 civilians in American attacks on Jabhat al-Nusra positions during the initial wave of attacks on September 23.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it has documented the deaths of at least 40 civilians before the December 28 strike on Al Bab
Regime: Turkey’s Intervention in Syria is Like Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians
The Assad regime has come up with a new line of attack against Turkey, claiming that its support of the Syrian opposition is like the Ottoman Empire’s genocide of Assyrians.
The challenge is linked a ceremonial mass on the centennial of the mass killing of an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million Assyrians, led by the Supreme Phead of the Syriac Orthodox Church, in Damascus on Sunday.
Patriarch Aphrem II said, “The current situation in Syria is similar to the situation during the Ottoman genocide, with new criminals embracing the same old mentality of rejecting the other and trying to eliminate all those who do not convert to their mentality or do share them their ideology.”
He said Christians would never leave their lands and added, “The real martyrdom is the result of defending beliefs and principles, as is the case with the Syrian soldiers who are defending their country against terrorists, criminals and bandits who came from all corners of the globe.”
