US Airstrikes Hitting Syrian Civilians Hard

First Publish: 9/29/2014, 12:00 PM

US F15-E jets in northern Iraq (file)

Reuters

After slamming Israel for bombing Hamas, US strikes make Syrian fuel prices skyrocket; group says strike on civilians may be 'war crime.'

Israel was browbeaten internationally over its recent counter-terror operation against Hamas targets embedded in the Gaza population. Now, the world seems to be largely unperturbed by a similar American campaign against terrorists in Syria and Iraq, despite the heavy cost to civilians.
America has been conducting airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and since last week in Syria as well, aided by a coalition of world states. On Sunday night, those strikes included the bombing of Kuniko gas plant which was seized by ISIS outside Deir al-Zor city in northernSyria, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The plant was targeted so as to harm ISIS financially, but it feeds a power station in Homs providing numerous provinces with electricity, reports Reuters.
According to the rights group's Rami Abdelrahman, the US airstrikes destroying make-shift refineries has nearly tripled the price of diesel in Syria's northern Aleppo province.
"The price went up from 9,000 Syrian pounds ($56) to 21,000 ($131) in Aleppo. Hitting these refineries has affected ordinary people, now they have to pay higher prices," Abdelrahman said.
Paying more, dying more
In addition to harming civilians by raising the price of gas, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday accused America of killing seven civilians in Syria's northern Idlib province last Tuesday.
According to HRW, the strike "should be investigated for possible violations of the laws of war."
The human rights group spoke to three local residents, who said at least two men, two women and five children were killed in the Kafr Deryan village in Idlib. They noted that a series of missiles hit Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front targets outside the town before other missiles hit two homes in the town itself, according to two of the residents.
The group notes that video footage from the homes shows that the strikes consisted of Tomahawk cruise missiles, indicating a US airstrike.
While one resident said the two men killed in the strike were members of Al Nusra Front, the other two said all the victims were civilians.
It is worth noting that when it came to Israel's defensive operation on the Hamas terrorist organization, the US was quick to criticize Israel for strikes on Hamas targets that led to civilian deaths.
The criticism of such strikes even reached the point where US President Barack Obama canceled a routine shipment of Hellfire missiles during the operation, and ordered closer scrutiny of future transfers.