Turning blind eye to Israel's war crimes in Gaza, US also has long criminal record in Syria

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

TAL ABYAD, Syria (AA) – The US, which remains silent on Israel's war crimes in Gaza, also has a long criminal record in Syria where it caused the deaths of thousands of civilians through the attacks of the coalition forces it led during the civil war.

Since Oct. 7 in Gaza, more than 14,532 people have lost their lives in Israeli attacks, with over 6,000 of them being children and 4,000 women.

The US and Western countries have not only remained silent in the face of Israel targeting hospitals, places of worship, and schools in Gaza, killing thousands of civilians but have also openly approved of the attacks in their statements.

The Western leaders visited Israel during the war period, continuing arms sales and shipments.

The US administration reiterated its unconditional support for Israel in all its actions, emphasizing that there is no limit to this assistance, both militarily and politically.

The US administration paved the way for the continuation of the massacre by vetoing cease-fire resolutions related to Gaza in the UN Security Council.

Only after the number of Gazans killed by Israel exceeded 11,000 did the US administration begin to send veiled messages to Israel, calling the country to act in accordance with international law, to soften the international and domestic reactions.

The recent events in Gaza are reminiscent of the thousands of civilians who lost their lives in the attacks by the coalition forces led by the US against the Daesh/ISIS terror group in the Syrian civil war.

A total of 3,051 civilians lost their lives in the coalition's attacks in Syria’s Raqqa, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Al-Hasakah, Idlib, Homs, and Dera provinces from 2014 to 2023.

In the bombings between 2014 and 2020, "civilian life centers,” including places of worship, schools, and marketplaces, were targeted at least 181 times, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) report.

The report classified the attacks in which at least five civilians lost their lives as "massacre," revealing that coalition forces committed massacres at least 172 times.

Among the casualties of the attacks by coalition forces, 926 were children, while 658 were women.

As a result of the attacks by the coalition forces led by the US, more than 560,000 civilians had to evacuate their homes in Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Al-Hasakah provinces.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip following a surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

The Israeli death toll is around 1,200, according to official figures.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara