US and coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria have killed nearly 1,200 people \u2012 including 52 civilians \u2012 and wounded at least 800 others at a cost of more than $1 billion since the bombings began in September.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Thursday that airstrikes in Syria over the last three months have killed 1,046 fighters from the Islamic State \u2013 most of whom were non-Syrian fighters.<\/p>\n
An additional 72 jihadists from Jabhat al-Nusra, a rival group, were killed in bombing raids against their headquarters in the western countryside of Aleppo and the northern countryside of Idlib.<\/p>\n
Of the 52 dead civilians, eight were women and five were children. They died during coalition airstrikes on oil fields and refineries in the al-Hasakah and Der-Ezzor countrysides, as well as al-Raqqa, Menbej \u2013 located northeast of Aleppo \u2013 and the Idlib countryside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, in SOHR, believed that the real number of casualties in ISIS is more than our number, because there is absolute secrecy on casualties and due to the difficulty of access to many areas and villages that have witnessed violent clashes and bombardment,\u201d<\/em> the group said in a Tuesday statement<\/a>, expressing \u201cstrong condemnation<\/em>\u201d of the civilian deaths as a result of coalition activities.<\/p>\n While casualty figures are impossible to verify, the Britain-based SOHR is considered to be the most reliable resource \u201cin a sea of misinformation\u201d from both sides of the conflict, NPR reported.<\/p>\n Bombing began in Iraq<\/a> against the Islamic State on August 8, and in Syria<\/a> on September 23. The combined campaigns, called ‘Operation Inherent Resolve,’ has a total price tag of $1.02 billion, with a daily cost of $8.1 million through December 11, the Defense Department reported.<\/p>\n With the cost of the fight against the Islamic State crossing the billion-dollar mark, the operation will have its own inspector general to oversee US government spending, The Hill reported. Jon T. Rymer, the Pentagon’s inspector general, will serve as the lead inspector general for Operation Inherent Resolve<\/a>, his office announced Monday. He will submit biannual reports to Congress, with the first to come in April 2015.<\/p>\n Last week, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel authorized the deployment of 1,300 additional US troops to Iraq, according to The Hill. The group is part of the 1,500 servicemembers that President Barack Obama authorized in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n