Activists: US-Led Airstrikes Killed 553 in Syria | WPN World People News

Syrian activists say a month of U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria has killed 553 people, mostly militants from the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday the deaths include 464 Islamic State fighters and 32 civilians.

The group, which has tracked the violence in Syria throughout the country's civil war, said it believes even more Islamic State militants have actually died but remain unreported because of difficulties in accessing some of the airstrike sites.

U.S. and partner nation planes have carried out more than 200 airstrikes in Syria since September 22, as part of an expanded effort to halt the Islamic State group.

At least 300 coalition airstrikes have also targeted the group in Iraq, where the militants swept through large areas of the northern and western part of the country in recent months.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says a stray bundle of weapons and ammunitions that U.S. cargo planes intended to airdrop to Kurds in northern Syria did likely end up in the hands of Islamic State fighters.

Spokesman Steve Warren said Wednesday that 26 of 28 bundles dropped over Kobani were picked up by Kurds, but that two went astray. Warren said U.S. forces destroyed one, while the other was probably picked up by militants.

Video from a pro-Islamic State media group shows a masked fighter inspecting hand grenades, ammunition, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers as he voiced delight.

But Warren said the weapons are not enough to give the militants any type of advantage as they battle Kurdish defenders for control of Kobani.

Earlier Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was wrong for the United States to airdrop military supplies to Kurdish fighters. He questioned the logic of such an operation if only some of the weapons reach their targets.

Erdogan also said he has "difficulty understanding why Kobani is so strategic" for the United States, saying there are no civilians there. He also said any help for Syrian Kurds fighting Islamic State supports the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a decades-long war for independence from Turkey.

Source: Voice of America