The number of civilians killed in air strikes by the US-led coalition in Syria over the past month was the highest monthly toll since it began its campaign against the Islamic State (IS) group in 2014, a monitoring organization said on Tuesday. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 225 civilians including 44 children and 36 women had been killed in the month between 23 April and 23 May. At least 122 IS militants and fighters loyal to the Syrian government were also killed, the Observatory said. “ The past month of operations is the highest civilian toll since the coalition began bombing Syria, ” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told the AFP news agency. “ There has been a very big escalation. ” The figure appears to suggest that coalition air strikes in Syria are now causing more casualties than air attacks on rebel-held territory by Syrian government forces. The Observatory said on Saturday that 146 civilians had