US-led coalition pounds Syria with white phosphorus bombs, killing civilians

The US-led coalition on Wednesday targeted Hajin City in Deir Ezzor eastern countryside with white phosphorous bombs, claiming the lives of a number of civilians and injuring others, Syria's state news agency SANA reported citing local sources.

According to the report, the coalition’s air forces bombed a stronghold of the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Hajin City, also hitting the homes of civilians.

On November 14, the US-led coalition aircraft attacked Hajin City and the neighboring city of al-Shafa with internationally banned cluster bombs, leaving civilians dead and wounded. Two days earlier, on November 12, the strikes killed and injured 60 people.

Coalition airstrikes claimed the lives of over 40 children in Deir Ez-zor province since the beginning of November, according to data compiled by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN Security Council in November, blaming the US-led coalition for its persistence in committing war crimes in Syria and neglecting people’s lives. Damascus urged the UN Security Council to strongly condemn the coalition’s actions and "establish an international neutral, independent mechanism for investigating these crimes and punish their perpetrators.".