U.S. Says Friendly Fire Killed Syrian Allies
Source: WSJ
WASHINGTON—The U.S. military bombed a Syrian rebel unit it had trained and equipped in a friendly-fire incident in late May, prompting an internal investigation and raising questions about renewed Pentagon efforts to build local forces to battle Islamic State.
The military didn’t disclose the incident until asked about it by The Wall Street Journal. It is the most serious setback to date for the Pentagon’s recent efforts to work with Sunni Arab forces in northern Syria. The Pentagon said it conducted a series of airstrikes in and around the Syrian town of Ma’ra on May 27 and May 28. The Pentagon-backed Mutasim Brigade said one of the airstrikes hit the brigade.
A statement issued by the U.S. military at the time said three strikes were carried out near Ma’ra that “struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL tactical vehicles and an ISIL vehicle,” using the Pentagon’s preferred acronym for Islamic State. But leaders with the brigade in interviews said a U.S. airstrike hit brigade members while they were fighting Islamic State militants. Mustafa Sejry, the head of Mutasim’s political office, said 10 of the brigade’s fighters were killed in the U.S. strike.
A spokesman for the U.S. military’s Central Command acknowledged the incident, saying in a written statement that the U.S. military had launched an investigation.
Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-friendly-fire-killed-syrian-allies-1465602632
= new reply since forum marked as read
shame for what we allowed our gov't to do to the ME. Period.
All we better hope is that there really is no such thing as 'karma' cuz if so, we have a shitload of the bad stuff heading our way...
