A day after the first massacre that took place in the Al-Hazawiya neighbourhood in Manbij, the Aleppo countryside, airstrikes led by the international coalition have killed dozens of people and injured others in Tokhar, according to the Syrian National Coalition and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The ISIS run Amaq news agency said that 160 civilians were killed in raids on the Manbij countryside, whilst an international coalition source did not deny that airstrikes had been carried out in Manbij recently and said that an investigation into the matter is being carried out. The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “We have seen the reports that indicate that people were killed as a result of the shelling, and we are now collecting information on the matter from several parties, some of which were close to the sites that were targeted. Based on the results, we will take necessary measures. We would like to stress that we take precautions and measures to avoid targeting civilians and minimise the harm that may affect them.”

Meanwhile, the US military announced in a statement that opposition fighters that are backed by the United States and are fighting ISIS militants in Syria took control of a base from which operations were led in the city of Manbij at the beginning of the week.

The Director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the “bombing carried out by the international coalition targeted the outskirts of the village of Tokhar at dawn yesterday which resulted in 56 civilians dying including 11 children”. Other Syrian opposition websites stated that the death toll has risen to 85 people, including five entire families, most of which were women and children, after residential areas were targeted. Opposition websites also stated that the bombing resulted in the destruction of a mill and a number of mosques and schools.