WASHINGTON covered up possible war crimes in Syria after its air strikes killed at least 64 women and children in 2019, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Two missile attacks near the town of Baghuz, Deir ez-Zor province, were ordered by a secretive special operations unit on the ground, according to the report.

A lawyer for the US air force believed that the air strikes constituted potential war crimes, and alerted the US Defence Department and the Senate armed services committee to this.