US led strikes have killed 850 people in Syria, 50 civilians ...

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Air strikes by U.S.-led forces in Syria have killed 865 people, including 50 civilians, since the start of the campaign in late September against Islamic State militants, a group monitoring the war said on Wednesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the majority of the deaths, 746, were Islamic State fighters and said the actual figure could be much higher.

Eight of the civilians were children and five were women, the Observatory said. It said 68 members of al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front were also killed in the air strikes, which started early on Sept. 23.

This as a truce in Damascus allowed cars carrying food and aid supplies to enter a southern Damascus neighborhood thanks to a local ceasefire agreement between pro-government officials and insurgents, a monitoring group said.

Such truces have been described by the U.N. Syria mediator as one of the best ways to end the conflict on an area-by-area basis. On Tuesday the envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said Syrian officials had given him positive signals on a U.N. proposal for a local truce in the northern city of Aleppo.

The ceasefire in the southern Damascus neighborhood of Qadam was agreed back in August after months of negotiations, opening the way for Wednesday's aid access, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The agreement was struck between rebels in the area, the governor of Damascus, the leader of the main pro-government paramilitary group, and various other local chiefs. The Observatory, which says it gathers information from all sides of the conflict, said dozens of residents had been able to re-enter the neighborhood at the end of last month.

The truce called for the complete withdrawal of the army from the district, with army checkpoints at its entrances only. It also called for the release of prisoners held by the government and gave the rebel Western-backed Free Syrian Army responsibility for running the area, allowing them to keep their weapons.

LBCI/REUTERS

REUTERS

US-led strikes have killed 850 people in Syria, 50 civilians - monitor

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