Srinagar: At least 20 Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed over the past 24 hours as a result of U.S.-led airstrikes on IS-held areas in eastern Syria, a war monitor group reported on Wednesday.

The IS militants were killed as the U.S.-led coalition has been pounding the IS-held areas in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province as a prelude to a campaign to dislodge IS from its last strongholds in eastern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is a Kurdish-led group, is bracing to launch a second wave of attacks against IS in the last IS-held pocket on the eastern bank of Euphrates River near Iraq.

The airstrikes have recently intensified as the Kurdish-led group’s attack on IS seems imminent after a failing attempt that has dragged on since Sept. 10.

In the process, civilian casualties have fallen, with tens of civilians reportedly killed earlier this week by the U.S.-led strikes.

The Syrian government has for long questioned the intentions of the U.S.-led coalition as the area in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour is a strategic one due to its proximity to the Iraqi border and the oil-rich fields.

Earlier on Wednesday, Syria’s state news agency SANA said the U.S.-led warplanes are targeting residential areas in eastern Deir al-Zour with cluster bombs and white phosphorus.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry renewed in a statement Saturday calling on the UN to form “an independent international mechanism” to investigate into the “crimes of the Washington coalition” and punish the perpetrators. 

This post was published on November 15, 2018