US intelligence officials will no longer be required to publicly disclose the number of civilians killed in airstrikes against terrorist targets "outside areas of active hostilities" due to a new executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Thousands of civilians remain inside ISIS's last enclave in Syria, a commander with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Friday.
After previously slamming a June report by Amnesty International, the US-led military coalition fighting ISIS is now acknowledging findings by the human rights group that 77 civilians were in fact killed during airstrikes conducted in Raqqa, Syria, last summer.
More than 200 civilians have been killed since Monday in Syrian government airstrikes on parts of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday. Among the deaths were 54 children and 41 women.
