COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark will not extend military operations of its seven F-16 fighter jets in Syria and Iraq from mid-December after six months in action, the Danish government said on Friday.

Instead the Danish contribution in Syria and Iraq will primarily consist of training and analysis teams, which to a large extent will work closer to Iraqi military units.

“We are pulling our airplanes out as planned. We have offered the coalition extra help with some construction and engineer troops,” Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said after a meeting in the foreign political council.

“It has been assessed whether it would make sense from economical and practical considerations (to extend the mission) ... the conclusion has been that it makes no sense, so we just stick to the plan,” Samuelsen said.

NATO member Denmark is part of the U.S.-led operation “Inherent Resolve” against Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria. It said when it joined the mission in June it would review the operation after six months.

On Monday, a U.S. military investigation said Danish war planes were involved in a Sept. 17 coalition air strike, where a series of “unintentional human errors” killed fighters aligned with the Syrian government instead of the targeted Islamic State militants.

The minister made no mention of the incident in his statement.</s>COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — In a planned move, Denmark is pulling back its F-16 fighter jet squadron from an international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.



Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen says the Scandinavian country would instead send engineering troops to help with reconstruction projects. He didn't specify where.



Denmark joined the international coalition in October 2014, and sent, among others, seven F-16 planes, which were briefly brought back to Denmark for repairs. In April, a large majority in the Danish Parliament sent them back, this time with a mandate to bomb in Syria.



Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said Friday that an undisclosed number of special Danish troops were continuing to train and support Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State militants.</s>Up to 24 civilians were killed in one strike in mid-July near the Syrian city of Manbij, the statement said.

At the time the opposition Syrian National Coalition called for a suspension of the air campaign against Islamic State in Syria while reports of the Manbij strike were investigated and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said reports of those civilian casualties would be investigated.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said at least 56 civilians were killed in air strikes north of Manbij.

On July 18, about 100 Islamic State fighters were preparing for a counter attack against Syrian Democratic Forces near Manbij, the statement said.

"Unknown to coalition planners, civilians were moving around within the military staging area, even as other civilians in the nearby village had departed over the previous days," the statement said.

It throws light on the challenges in coalition air strikes against Islamic State in parts of Iraq and Syria where the United States does not have ground forces or reliable informants within the population.

This brings the total number of civilians killed by the Coalition to 173 since strikes started in 2014, which is significantly lower than estimates from other groups.

In October, Amnesty International said the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State had not taken enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Syria and that as many as 300 civilians have been killed in 11 attacks conducted by the coalition since September 2014.

The United States has conducted 12,633 air strikes in Iraq and Syria as of Nov. 17, according to U.S. military data.

The operation against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has cost $10 billion since 2014.</s>A Syrian pro-government fighter passes a checkpoint in the Shihan neighbourhood in the government-held side of Aleppo, on December 3, 2016 (AFP Photo/Youssef KARWASHAN)

Beirut (AFP) - Here are the latest developments on the main battle fronts in Iraq and Syria, as of 1700 GMT on Saturday:

Syria's army has advanced deeper into east Aleppo where by Saturday it controlled more than half of the former rebel stronghold.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled eastern neighbourhoods of the battered northern city since President Bashar al-Assad's regime began its latest offensive in mid-November.

Overnight, government troops and allied forces seized the district of Tariq al-Bab where heavy fighting had raged a day earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Around 310 civilians have been killed in the government's assault on east Aleppo since November 15, the Britain-based Observatory said.

At least 69 civilians have been killed in the same period by rebel fire on regime-held west Aleppo, it said.

The fighting has prompted more than 50,000 people to leave east Aleppo for territory controlled by either the government or Kurdish forces.

Of those who have fled, nearly 20,000 are children, the UN's children's agency estimates.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, is trying to push closer to the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.

The SDF has been battling the jihadists to drive them from positions around 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the city.

Forces from the Iraqi army retook four villages from IS northeast of the city of Mosul on Saturday, the Joint Operations Command said.

The recapture by the army's 16th division of the villages between Bashiqa and Mosul clears the way for Iraqi forces to enter the city from the northeast.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake Mosul, the jihadists' last major bastion in Iraq, on October 17.

The main push has come from the east, where elite forces from the Counter-Terrorism Service have retaken several neighbourhoods despite fierce resistance.

Some 74,000 people have fled the fighting, but upwards of a million are estimated to remain in the city.

UN figures show that around 2,000 members of Iraqi forces and more than 900 civilians were killed in fighting across the country in November.
Denmark's government announces it will be withdrawing its seven F-16 fighter jets from military operations against ISIL in Iraq and Syria from mid-December.