How Many Civilians Have Been Killed In Syria By US-led Airstrikes?

A United Nations panel reports that hundreds of Syrian civilians have been killed in American-led coalition airstrikes on the Islamic State also known as ISIS, the New York Times wrote Wednesday.

The U.N.’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry intermittently releases reports on the state of the conflict in Syria. The commission presented their latest report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.

READ: ISIS Violence In Syria Threatens More Than 40,000 Children, UNICEF Says

“We note in particular that the intensification of air strikes, which have paved the ground for a (Syrian Democratic Forces) advance in Raqqa, has resulted not only in staggering loss of civilian life, but has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes and becoming internally displaced,” said Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, chair of the commission, in a statement.

The coalition airstrikes have killed at least 300 people since March as U.S.-backed forces advance on ISIS’ last Syrian stronghold, Raqqa, Reuters reported.

“The suffering of encircled populations is compounded by daily airstrikes that steadily destroy hospitals, markets, bakeries, schools and mosques. As casualties mount and critically needed infrastructure is decimated, civilian life is made impossible,” Pinheiro continued. “In despair, civilians see no option but to leave.”

Karen Abuzayd, a commission member, told the Times that a single incident on March 21 killed 200 people when an airstrike on the town of Mansoura hit a school.

Often U.N. and humans rights organization’s tallies of casualties differ from the U.S. military’s tallies. Human Rights non-profits often maintain a much larger number of deaths.

Pinheiro outlines the need to get rid of ISIS in Raqqa in order to free the Syrian people they have been terrorizing there.

“This offensive could liberate the city’s civilian population from the group’s oppressive clutches, including Yazidi women and girls, whom the group has kept sexually enslaved for almost three years as part of an ongoing and unaddressed genocide,” said Pinheiro.

Yazidi are a minority group from Iraq.

The report worries about the toll the coalition forces is inflicting on the population of Syria and Iraq in the fight against ISIS.

READ: ISIS Kills Hundreds In Mosul, Iraq, According To UN

“Ultimately, the only way to end civilian suffering is to end this war,” said Pinheiro. “Time and time again, warring parties and influential States have failed to capitalize on the opportunities presented by respites from hostilities. And time and again, Syrian men, women, and children pay the price for the continuation of the war.”