US Denies Targeting Mosque in Syria's Idlib, to Check Alleged Civilian Deaths

The US Central Command said it had not hit a mosque in Syria's Idlib following reports of mass civilian casualties caused by an airstrike.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The US forces airstrike carried out in Idlib, northern Syria, did not target or hit a mosque, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman said.

"We did not target any mosques. What we did target was destroyed. There is a mosque within 50 feet of that building that is still standing," Col. John J. Thomas said as cited by the New York Times late on Thursday, adding that the investigation would be conducted to establish whether civilians had been killed or injured by the strike.

The spokesman did not give any details as to the number of the terrorists killed in the strike.

On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 42 people were killed, a majority civilians, when an airstrike hit a mosque in the al-Jinah village southwest of Atareb in the western countryside of Aleppo.

The civil war in Syria has been lasting for around six years with government troops fighting against numerous opposition factions and terror organizations such as al-Nusra Front and Daesh, outlawed in Russia.