At question is a coalition bombing on July 19 in the Al Tokhar village near Manbij city in northern Syria. The strike was conducted in support of Syrian rebels fighting on the ground against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
U.S. Central Command is looking into whether those reports are credible, said Army Col. Chris Garver, spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition task force fighting ISIS.
"As per our procedure, we are reviewing all available evidence to determine if the information we have is credible enough to warrant a formal investigation," Garver said.
Garver said such preliminary investigations typically last 14 days, after which a decision would be made to formally investigate whether the airstrike killed civilians.
Garver called press reports of 73 civilian deaths "kind of a wild speculation" and said internal reporting on possible civilians deaths arrived at a figure somewhere between 10 and 20.
He emphasized that those internal reports did not confirm any civilian deaths.
Garver said the strike, which can consist of multiple bombings, was conducted after Syrian fighters observed a large group of ISIS fighters in a convoy that appeared readying for a counterattack.
"The strike was against both buildings and vehicles. Afterwards, we received reports from several sources, both internal and external, that there may have been civilians in the area who are mixed in and among the Daesh fighters," Garver said, using a derogatory Arabic name for ISIS.
"As we have discussed many times, we apply an extraordinary amount of rigor into our strike clearance procedures to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties or unnecessary collateral damage and to comply with the principles of the law of armed conflict," Garver added.
The Syrian rebels are fighting to retake Manbij, which is a strategic pathway for ISIS from Turkey to Raqqa, its Syrian stronghold. Since the offensive began in late May, the coalition has conducted more than 500 strikes in the area, Garver said.
Garver said several thousand civilians have escaped Manbij but that the coalition believes thousands more remain in the city.
ISIS is using civilians as human shields and trying to get the coalition to shoot civilians as a propaganda tool, he added.
Garver said that so far, the coalition-backed rebels have retaken just under half the city, and that ISIS has placed machine guns, snipers and bombs in the center of the city.
"In spite of these tactics, the [Syrian Arab Coalition] is maintaining their deliberate forward momentum with support from coalition strikes," he said.
"This is a fight
like we haven't seen before. It could be a tough fight and take a while
longer to clear everything out," he said.
