Date: Jan 26, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Coalition strikes kill 42 in Daesh Syria holdout: Observatory Agence France Presse BEIRUT: Coalition missile strikes have killed 42 people including 13 civilians in what remains of the the last holdout of Daesh (ISIS) in eastern Syria, an activist group said. The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, are battling to expel the last militants from hamlets in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights 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 group said. They included seven Syrians linked to Daesh including three children from the same family, as well as six Iraqi non-combatants, it said. The coalition was not immediately available for comment, but has in the past said it does everything to avoid targeting civilians. "The area is a launchpad for jihadist counterattacks," Observatory chief Rami Abdel-Rahman said. The SDF have since September been battling to expel Daesh from their last pocket of territory on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River in Deir al-Zor. The SDF has advanced swiftly in recent weeks, taking control of a series of key villages, with Daesh scrambling to retaliate. On Thursday, Daesh failed to retake Baghouz from the SDF in one counterattack that left a total of 50 fighters dead on both sides, the Observatory said. Thousands of people, mostly women and children, have fled into SDF-held territory in recent days, according to the Britain based Observatory, which relies on a network of contacts inside Syria for its information.