The UN’s children agency has condemned the massacre of children in northern Syria days after air strikes by the US-led coalition claimed the lives of over 50 civilians, including nearly a dozen kids there.

In a statement on Thursday, UNICEF highlighted the deaths of dozens of children in and around the Daesh-held city of Manbij in Syria’s Aleppo Province.
“No matter where they are in Syria or under whose control they live - absolutely nothing justifies attacks on children,” said the statement.
On July 19, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 civilians lost their lives due to the air strikes by the US-led coalition near the village of al-Tukhar, situated close to Manbij.

The intensified air strikes were reportedly conducted by the so-called multinational task force against Daesh, a coalition led by the United States which claims to help Kurdish and Arab fighters in their ongoing drive to recapture areas from Daesh in Aleppo.

Scores of people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the attacks.

Since May 31, the city has been the target of a US-backed offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] A Syrian woman walks carrying her child on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Manbij. ©AFP[/caption]

The coalition’s campaign in Manbij intensified in late June after SDF forces failed in their bid to fully push back militants from the city.

Thousands have fled the fierce fighting in Manbij, while tens of thousands more remain trapped in the city.

The UNICEF also condemned the brutal killing this week of a 12-year-old boy who was beheaded on camera in Aleppo by US-backed militants.

The man cutting off the small boy’s head with a knife was believed to be a member of the Nureddin al-Zenki, an opposition group which has received military support in the past from the US as part of Washington’s backing for what it calls “moderate” militants in Syria.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International said the militant group was among several opposition outfits committing war crimes and other violations of international law.

By Press TV