A/HRC/43/CRP.6 further prevented the flow of food and medicine into affected areas. 21 Instances of children dying from malnutrition, dehydration and other preventable deaths linked to the denial of humanitarian assistance have been documented. Non-state armed groups and terrorist organizations 27. Since the start of the conflict, children inside Government-controlled areas endured attacks by armed groups and terrorist organizations that resulted in numerous child deaths, in particular in Idlib and Ladhiqiyah Governorates as well as Aleppo and Damascus cities. Many of those victims were killed while on their way to school or when gathered in schoolyards. In one such attack, carried out by armed groups on 11 October 2016 against Tha’t al-Nitaqin school in Dar’a city, six children were killed, one of whom was five years old, and 20 others were injured, including an adolescent girl whose right leg was later amputated above the knee. 28. As ISIL expanded its control over large swathes of territory in Syria, girls and boys suffered widespread violations, including public executions where children were both victims of executions and forced into the role of executor.22 In September 2014, a 16-year-old girl was beheaded by ISIL fighters in Aleppo because she was accused of being a member of the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG). ISIL also launched indiscriminate attacks on towns and villages under Government-control that killed and injured scores of children. Moreover, children were killed or maimed by landmines laid as ISIL retreated from areas of which it had lost control. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists,23 an umbrella coalition that united a number of extremist factions in 2016, also conducted attacks causing scores of child casualties. Most recently, on 16 June 2019, HTS launched at least a dozen 120mm Grad rockets towards al-Wadihi village, located in the southern countryside around Aleppo, killing 13 civilians, including four children, all of whom were celebrating a wedding at the time of the events. United States-led international coalition24 29. The Commission has repeatedly expressed concerns over the impact that airstrikes by the United States-led international coalition have had on civilians. The coalition’s aerial campaign, carried out in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against ISIL, has had devastating consequences on children, in particular given the large-scale destruction of Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr, further exacerbating the abuses they had suffered when living under the group’s control. 30. In one particular incident documented by the Commission, international coalition forces carried out an airstrike on the night of 20 to 21 March 2017 against Al-Badiya school in Mansurah (Raqqah Governorate), an area that was under ISIL control at the time. During the attack, coalition forces failed to take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimize incidental loss of civilian life in violation of international humanitarian law.25 The attack caused the death of 150 displaced persons housed in the school, leaving few survivors. This included 21 children, all but one of whom was under the age of 11, as well as eight women, one of whom was in the final stages of pregnancy. 21 22 23 24 25 See ICRC Rule 55 noting that “The parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, which is impartial in character and conducted without any adverse distinction, subject to their right of control”. See A/HRC/27/60, paras 30-38. See, generally, “Rule of Terror: Living under ISIS in Syria”, conference room paper A/HRC/27/CRP.3. In July 2016, “Jabhat al-Nusra” changed its name to “Jabhat Fatah al-Sham”, and later joined a number of extremist factions under the umbrella coalition of Hay’et Tahrir al Sham. Notwithstanding the changes in name, the Commission continues to regard Jabhat Fatah al-Sham as a terrorist entity as designated by Security Council resolution 2170 (2014). Since 2014, an international coalition of more than 60 countries joined together to combat ISIL through a variety of means, including airstrikes. See A/HRC/36/55, para. 79 and A/HRC/37/72 at para. 39-41 and Annex IV (paras. 7–11). 9