A member of the Syrian parliament says Washington greatly understates the number of civilian deaths caused by the US-led coalition airstrikes allegedly targeting terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.
In an interview with Russia’s Sputnik Arabic news agency, Muhammed al-Hussein said the recent statement released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) was “ridiculous” because the airstrikes actually claimed the lives of thousands of civilians in the two war-ravaged countries.
The statement, published on April 1, said the coalition had conducted a total of 18,645 strikes between August 2014 and February 2017, killing 396 civilians in Syria and Iraq.
It also added that the total number of credible reports of civilian casualties during this period was 102, with 43 still being assessed.
“We are surprised by the figures quoted because only during one bombing of Raqqah city more than 700 unarmed residents of the city were killed,” Hussein said in…