Coalition missile strikes have killed 42 people including 13 civilians in what remains of ISIS’ last holdout in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, with backing from a US-led coalition, are battling to expel the last militants from hamlets in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
The Observatory said short-range missiles late Friday hit homes on farmland near the village of Baghouz, killing 42 people.
Among them were 13 civilians, the Britain-based monitor said.
They included seven Syrians linked to ISIS including three children from the same family, as well as six Iraqi non-combatants, it said.
"The area is a launchpad for militant counterattacks," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The SDF have since September been battling to expel ISIS from their last pocket of territory on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River in Deir Ezzor.
The SDF has advanced swiftly in recent weeks, taking control of a series of key villages, with ISIS scrambling to retaliate.
On Thursday, the terrorist group failed to retake Baghouz from the SDF in one counterattack that left a total of 50 fighters dead on both sides, the Observatory said.
