U.S.-Led Coalition Airstrike Kills 18 Anti-Assad Fighters in Syria: Pentagon
Source: NBC News
A U.S-led coalition airstrike against ISIS mistakenly killed 18 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces fighting President Bashar Assad, the Pentagon admitted Thursday.
It was not immediately clear if a U.S. plane was involved in the 'friendly fire' strike, which happened south of Tabqah in northern Syria on Tuesday.
"The strike was requested by the partnered forces, who had identified the target location as an ISIS fighting position," the Pentagon said in a statement.
However, "the target location was actually a forward SDF fighting position," it said.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/u-s-led-coalition-airstrike-killed-18-sdf-fighters-syria-n745986
Doodley
(9,176 posts)Moostache
(9,897 posts)FBaggins
(26,793 posts)The "fog of war" is not a weather forecast.
It's one of the reasons for warfare to be a "last resort" option.
BeyondGeography
(39,395 posts)And Syria is very foggy.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)When you have dozens of factions fighting each other all over the place, there's going to be a lot more moments of confusion.
hack89
(39,171 posts)humans = errors. It is our nature.
Botany
(70,657 posts)So The US military will now be working for Russia/Assad in Syria?
hack89
(39,171 posts)looks like they screwed up the coordinates.
lostnfound
(16,203 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)especially with inexperienced, poorly trained soldiers. Blue on Blue is not uncommon even with highly trained troops.
MedusaX
(1,129 posts)Provided you have selected the correct target ...
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)what a colossal screw up the republican "leader" is.
And this greedy, irresponsible, casino-bred assclown is who the republicans want to "lead" our military and our country?
deplorable.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)not the first time a FO has accidentally called in a strike on his own position.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)We need to get those anti-Assad fighters out of Syria before Russia/Assad slaughter them all.
Help them & families immigrate to another country. They probably don't want to immigrate to Ame(R)ica.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)calling it "friendly fire" is just stupid. It is kind of like saying "friendly slaughter.". A new explanation needs to be found. How about "mistaken fire" or "fucked up fire" or "they screwed up fire"?
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)"Kill em all, let God sort em out"!
Kennah
(14,369 posts)davsand
(13,421 posts)The number of "accidental" citizen deaths has been high enough that the US may be killing more civilians than Bashar al-Assad.
EX500rider
(10,891 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War#Deaths
Kennah
(14,369 posts)Demtexan
(1,588 posts)We will be doing their dirty work.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)most are ISIS and al Qaeda affiliated
lostnfound
(16,203 posts)"Resistance is futile".