Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label US-led strikes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US-led strikes. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

US-led strike hits regime positions in east Syria: state media


by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, France24, Beirut/Damascus


    © AFP/File | The US-led coalition has carried out several deadly strikes against Syrian government forces and allied fighters in recent months

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    Syrian state media reported early Thursday that an aerial attack by the US-led coalition had hit several military positions in the country's east, but said there were no casualties.
    "Some of our military positions between Albu Kamal and Hmeimeh were hit this morning in an aggression by American coalition warplanes," said a military source quoted on state news agency SANA.
    The source told SANA the attack only caused "material damage."
    Albu Kamal and Hmeimeh lie in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, where Russian-backed Syrian troops and the US-led coalition have been waging separate offensives against the Islamic State group.
    A "de-confliction" line in place since last year is meant to keep the two assaults from crashing into each other, and runs along the Euphrates River.
    Regime troops are present west of the river while the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are on the east.
    A military source from forces allied to Syria's government said the strikes had targeted two regime military positions near a frontline with IS.
    "Daesh then launched an attack on the positions. The strikes and attack left a number of Syrian fighters dead and caused material damage," the source told AFP, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
    "There are no Iranian or Lebanese fighters among the dead," the source said.
    The coalition has carried out several deadly strikes against Syrian government forces and allied fighters in recent months.
    In February, coalition bombing raids in Deir Ezzor province killed at least 100 regime and allied fighters, including Russian nationals, in retaliation for an attack on SDF positions.
    And in September 2016, US-led strikes on regime military positions in the east left more than 60 Syrian troops dead. The coalition later said it had mistaken the fighters for IS jihadists.
    There was no immediate comment on Thursday from either the US-led coalition or the SDF, which are fighting to clear IS from a final series of villages on the eastern bank of the Euphrates.
    IS overran swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but separate offensives across both countries have seen its grip on territory shrink dramatically.
    On Monday, Syrian troops and allied forces ousted IS from the last districts it held in the capital Damascus.
    After a fierce month-long battle, an evacuation deal saw the remaining diehard jihadists bussed out of the city towards small pockets of land still held by IS in Syria's Badiya.
    The Badiya is the vast desert stretching from the country's centre to its eastern border with Iraq.
    The day after the transfer, IS fighters in the Badiya launched an attack on a nearby government position, leaving more than two dozen Syrian troops and allied fighters dead.

    Saturday, April 1, 2017

    US-led strikes 'likely' caused 229 civilian deaths since 2014: Pentagon


    by Melissa Gruz and Biodun Iginla, France24, Washington DC


      © AFP/File | Iraqi security forces drive past civilians fleeing their homes in Mosul's old city on March 30, 2017, due to the ongoing battles between government forces and Islamic State group fighters

      WASHINGTON - 
      Air strikes by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group have likely "unintentionally" killed 229 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to US Central Command.
      The tally does not include civilian casualties from March -- which could include potentially large numbers of civilians killed in strikes over several days in Mosul's al-Jadida area. Attention has focused on one allegedly particularly deadly strike on March 17.
      Stephen Townsend, the senior US commander in Iraq, said coalition forces "probably had a role in those casualties."
      The coalition has said it has launched an investigation into the reported deaths.
      Iraq is also probing the deadly air strikes in the western district of Mosul al-Jadida, where the number of victims is said to range from dozens to hundreds.
      The battle for Mosul began in October 2016.
      As of the end of February 2017, "it is more likely than not, at least 229 civilians have been unintentionally killed by coalition strikes since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve" in Iraq and Syria, according to the statement from Centcom, the US military command in the Middle East.
      Some 43 different reports of possible civilian deaths in the two countries are still under investigation by the coalition, the statement said.
      Critics, including monitoring groups, say the real number is much higher.
      The coalition insists that the IS group has targeted civilians and used them as human shields, making it difficult to avoid civilian casualties despite its state-of-the-art technology.