bombing syria
© Reuters/Abdalghne KaroofResidents inspect damaged buildings in what activists say was a U.S. strike in Kafr Daryan, in Syria's Idlib Province, on Sept. 23, 2014
Amid the rise of civilian deaths in US-led military operation against ISIL, Washington has acknowledged that any strikes in Syria and Iraq are exempt from its "standards" applied to other aerial attacks.

US National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden revealed that the current airstrikes will not be performed in line with a previously announced standard for allegedly minimizing civilian casualties.

Obama announced last year that the highest standard which the US can meet is un-authorizing drone attacks unless there is "near certainty" about the lack of civilian casualties.

The confirmation came a week after a dozen civilians, including children, were killed in a US attack in the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib province.

Human Rights Watch says the bombing should be investigated for possible violations of the laws of war.

The US-led coalition has been bombing ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, but has largely failed to halt militant advances.


Comment: Probably because they seem to be after mostly civilians

Freedom: U.S. airstrikes in Syria bomb grain silos killing civilians and destroying food


The "near certainty" standard was intended to apply "only when we take direct action 'outside areas of active hostilities,' as we noted at the time," Hayden added.

"That description, outside areas of active hostilities, simply does not fit what we are seeing on the ground in Iraq and Syria right now," Hayden noted.

US current and former officials said that the Pentagon would use satellite, drones and surveillance flights for determining targets for airstrikes, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

They said that the evaluation of the effects of the airstrikes and determining civilian casualties would be performed using the same technologies.

This is while the US used ground-based technologies, spies and military bases during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.