© airwars.orgManbij, Syria, assault on civilians.
US Central Command is looking into new claims that
US-led coalition air strikes recently killed civilians in Syria's Manbij, where Damascus says more than
120 non-combatants died. It also published a
10-month civilian body count, listing 14 deaths.
The latest CENTCOM statement quoted by Reuters and
Guardian reporter Spencer Ackerman says that the
military is investigating reports that civilians were killed in a Thursday airstrike in Manbij. The announcement comes a day after a formal investigation into the July 19 coalition bombing, in which dozens of civilians allegedly perished, was finally opened by the Pentagon after it decided
"the information was credible enough to warrant a formal investigation."Earlier in the day, CENTCOM
released "results of several civilian casualty assessments," which confirmed
civilian casualties had taken place in six separate US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. The data covered the period from July 28, 2015 to April 29, 2016 and
did not include an assessment of the Manbij incident.The US military said 14 civilians were killed in total, and another was injured in the incidents described. "We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from our airstrikes and express our sympathies to those affected," the statement said.
According to the Syrian government, however,
more than 120 civilians, including at least 44 children, were killed in last week's US-led coalition bombing of Manbij alone.
Estimates from several human rights groups varied between 74 and 203 civilians dead. Meanwhile, US military spokesman Army Colonel Christopher Garver said that he has seen figures indicating around
10 to 15 civilian deaths.
Comment: On the one hand, this is quite antagonistic coming from the Prime Minister of France, considering that roughly 10% of France's population is Muslim. Despite Valls' absurd claim that the Nice truck attacker was radicalized in two weeks, there is no evidence that indicates the attack was directed by ISIS. However, the tragedy was used by many to call for increasing controls. Valls' inflammatory anti-Muslim stance only deepens the twisted and unjustified tensions between the normal people of the world.
However, on the other hand, Valls is making an accurate distinction (which will go over many's heads) by specifying Salafism, the looney variety of Islam promoted by looneys extraordinaire: the Saudis. Banning the foreign (i.e., Saudi, or Gulenist) influence of mosques would be a good thing, as long as it is accompanied by a rational and compassionate promotion of real Islam. If people knew the difference, Isamophobia would have nowhere to breed.