BEIRUT // At least 47 people including civilians were killed in air strikes by Syrian or Russian warplanes in eastern Syria on Saturday, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit the ISIL-held village of Al Quria in Deir Ezzour province.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said 31 civilians were identified among those killed, but it was not immediately clear whether the 16 others were civilians or ISIL fighters.
“ISIL fighters have now set up a security perimeter around the residential area, where the town’s mosque is located,” he said.
Russian, Syrian, and US-led coalition warplanes are all carrying out raids against ISIL territory in Syria.
Deir Ezzour province is mostly under ISIL control and the group has laid siege to the remaining government-held areas in the provincial capital of the same name. The province links ISIL’s de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa with territory it controls in Iraq.
Syrian government forces backed by Russian air power recently made advances against ISIL in Raqqa province, but were driven back from some of those areas by a counter-attack.
In a separate advance against ISIL in Raqqa, an alliance of US-backed fighters edged further into the town of Manbij on Saturday, threatening a key stop on the extremists’ lifeline from Turkey.
The Syrian Democratic Forces overran a key junction in the city’s south after capturing nearby grain silos overnight.
“The grain silos overlook more than half of Manbij. SDF fighters can climb to the top and monitor the city,” Mr Abdel Rahman said.
The Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigades – one of the Arab components of the Kurdish-dominated alliance – confirmed the advance.
The Mills Roundabout lies less than two kilometres from the city centre.
Manbij was captured by ISIL in 2014 and was a key transit point for foreign fighters and funds, as well as a trafficking hub for oil, antiquities and other plundered goods.
If it succeeds, the offensive on Manbij – backed by intense air strikes by the US-led coalition – would mark the most significant victory against ISIL for the SDF.
Across the frontier in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, security forces were poised to assault Jolan, the last neighbourhood still held by ISIL.
Tens of thousands of people fled the fighting, with many camped out in the open in the summer heat.
“Dozens of families are still without tents or any form of shelter inside the camps, living in miserable conditions. The majority are elderly people, women and children,” said the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The SDF launched its offensive to take Manbij on May 31, driving across the Euphrates River from the east with military advice from about 200 US special forces troops.
ISIL has thrown large numbers of fighters into the battle, losing 463, according to the Observatory. The SDF has lost at least 89.
The extremists have taken as many as 1,000 Kurdish civilians hostage in areas under their control west of Manbij, according to the Observatory.
Manbij lies in the eastern plains of Aleppo province, which has become a battleground between an array of competing armed groups, including Al Qaeda, moderate rebels and government forces, as well as the SDF and ISIL.
Aleppo city was once the country’s commercial hub but now lies divided between government forces in the west and rebels in the east.
A two-day freeze on fighting brokered by Moscow and Washington this month expired without renewal.
On Saturday, Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded rebel-held areas in and around the city in support of a regime offensive on the rebels’ sole remaining supply route, the Observatory said.
The Castello Road has been repeatedly hit by air strikes but residents said the bombing had intensified in recent days.
* Agence France-Presse
