Syrian Watchdog Urges to Hold US-Led Coalition Accountable for Baghuz Bombing

BEIRUT (Sputnik) – The US-led international coalition to defeat the Daesh* and the SDF must be held accountable for the numerous civilian casualties that were the result of a 12-hour bombing of the Syrian village of Baghuz, Ahmad Kazem, the head of the Syrian Human Rights Network, told Sputnik on Friday.

"We demand that the UN and the UN Security Council send an international commission to investigate this massacre and other crimes that were committed by the international coalition's aircraft in Deir ez-Zor, and especially those crimes in which banned weapons, such as white phosphorus, were involved, and whose victims were hundreds of civilians," Kazem said.

READ MORE: Ten Civilians Killed in US-led Coalition Airstrike on Syria's Baghuz — Reports

He added that the bombings had resulted in more than 1,000 civilians being killed, as they were used as human shields by the terrorists, who prevented them from leaving the last stronghold they controlled.

This comes after Kurdish media reported on Thursday that Baghuz, located east of the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, had been liberated from the Daesh. The SDF, which launched the operation in Baghuz with the support of the coalition, refuted the reports, insisting that the offensive had not ended.

In early March, the SDF announced that they had resumed operations against terrorists in Baghuz after civilians were evacuated from the area. At the same time, human rights activists and local media claimed that dozens of residents who remained in the area had been killed as a result of the international coalition's airstrikes.

The US-led coalition, in turn, denied having any knowledge about civilian casualties.

*Daesh, also known as ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State is a terrorist group banned in Russia