MOAB blew story of us killing 18 US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria by mistake [View all]
right out of the headlines ... PR mission accomplished.
The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) accidentally killed 18 fighters from the coalition’s main Syrian partner on the ground, the coalition said Thursday.
A “misdirected” airstrike hit a fighting position of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) south of Tabqa on Tuesday, according to a coalition statement.
The SDF is a coalition of Arab and Kurdish fighters and is considered by the United States to be the most effective local force fighting against ISIS.
The SDF, backed by coalition forces in the air and on the ground, has been fighting for control of the city of Tabqa, as well as the nearby strategic Tabqa Dam, as it works to isolate the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa.
Tuesday’s strike was requested by “partnered forces,” according to the coalition. They had identified the target as an ISIS fighting position, the statement said, but the target was actually a forward SDF fighting position.
Read more:
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/328655-misdirected-us-led-coalition-airstrike-kills-18-allied-fighters-in-syria
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