Air strikes in Syria since Thursday evening have killed over 100 people including children and other family members of Islamic State fighters – VIDEO

Air strikes since Thursday evening have killed more than 100 people including children and other family members of Islamic State fighters in al-Mayadin, a town held by the jihadists near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids were carried out by U.S.-led coalition warplanes.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State told Reuters that its forces had conducted strikes near al-Mayadin on May 25 and 26 and were assessing the results.

The Observatory said more than 40 children were among those killed in the strikes, which levelled al-Mayadin’s municipality building.

Many of the families had fled from Raqqa, Islamic State’s stronghold to the northwest, which U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters are pushing towards in an offensive against the jihadists, the Observatory said.

Residents saw reconnaissance aircraft and warplanes circling the city at 7:25 p.m. (1625 GMT) before they fired missiles which struck two buildings, one of which was a four-storey block housing Syrian and Moroccan families of Islamic State fighters.

More strikes took place after midnight.

Islamic State is losing ground in both Syria and Iraq under assault from an array of sometimes rival forces in both countries. Many of its fighters who have retreated from other fronts are massing in Syria’s Euphrates basin area.

The U.S.-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in air strikes and investigates any that are reported to have taken place.

Three top Islamic State militants killed in Iraq, Syria -Pentagon

Three senior Islamic State military leaders and planners were killed in coalition attacks in Iraq and Syria over the past two months, the coalition fighting the militants said in a statement released by the Pentagon on Friday.

Mustafa Gunes, an Islamic State operative from Turkey, was killed in an air strike in Mayadin, Syria, on April 27, the statement said. Abu Asim al-Jazeri, an Islamic State planner from Algeria, was killed in Mayadin on May 11, it said.

Abu Khattab al-Rawi, an Islamic State military leader, was killed in al Qaim, Iraq, on May 18, the statement said. It said all three were foreign fighters but did not identify al-Rawi’s home country.

UN rights boss decries civilian casualties in Syria air strikes

The U.N. human rights chief called on all air forces operating in Syria on Friday to take greater care to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilians in their escalating air strikes especially in the northeast against Islamic State.

“The rising toll of civilian deaths and injuries already caused by airstrikes in Deir-ez-Zor and Al-Raqqa suggests that insufficient precautions may have been taken in the attacks,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement.

Air strikes in mid-May killed nearly two dozen farmworkers, most of them women, in a village in eastern Raqqa and at least 59 civilians in residential areas of Deir al-Zor, Zeid said.

An air strike on Thursday evening killed at least 35 civilians, including family members of Islamic State fighters, in al-Mayadin, a town held by the jihadists near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State told Reuters that its forces had conducted strikes near al-Mayadin on May 25 and 26 and were assessing the results.

Zeid’s spokesman Rupert Colville told a Geneva briefing on Friday: “There are multiple air forces operating in this part of Syria including the (U.S.-led) coalition, mainly the coalition. We also understand that there are Iraqi airplanes as well.”

“I can’t begin to identify who is responsible,” he added.

Islamic State forces, fighting to keep their stronghold in northeast Syria, have carried out summary executions of civilians, including slitting the throats of eight men at sites of air strikes after accusing them or providing coordinates, Zeid said.

“Unfortunately, scant attention is being paid by the outside world to the appalling predicament of the civilians trapped in these areas,” he added.

The U.N. human rights office also voiced concern at credible reports that Islamic State is preventing civilians from leaving areas under their control, noting that this violated international law.

“Unfortunately there is little doubt that ISIL (Islamic State) continues constantly to kill and endanger civilians, committing war crimes without any compunction whatsoever,” Zeid said.