7 killed in US airstrikes in Syria

At least seven children were killed in US-led airstrikes in Syria's Raqqa city, the de facto capital of Islamic State (IS) militant group, the media reported on Friday.

The airstrikes targeted several residential areas in Raqqa overnight, leaving many people wounded and destroying their houses, Xinhua quoted media reports.

The US-led coalition has carried out 44 raids over the past 48 hours, targeting residential areas.

The government said the Washington-led coalition had been formed "illegitimately... under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while the coalition attacks infrastructure and commits massacres".

Citing the falling of victims on daily basis, the Syrian Foreign Ministry earlier this week urged the UN to dissolve the coalition that started its operation in the country in 2014.

Recently, the coalition surged its strikes on Raqqa as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are on a crushing offensive to drive the IS out of its main stronghold in Syria.

The SDF has been making strides in the battles against IS in Raqqa, whose countryside is also subject to a military offensive by the government forces.

Raqqa is a major stronghold of the IS, but the battle to eradicate the UN designated terror group, will not be easy with recent reports suggesting the IS was in possession of chemical weapons inside that city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the IS would likely use such weapons should the SDF further advance into Raqqa.

--IANS

py/sac