U.S. acknowledged the killing of civilians in Syria, but justified it

By TOC On Nov 14, 2021

WASHINGTON – The United States has admitted to bombing the Syrian city of Baghuz in 2019, killing at least 80 people, most of them women and children, but justifying the actions of its military, learned BulgarianMilitary.com, citing Tabu.bg and the New York Times.

War in Syria: Who controls what and what happens

According to the data on March 18, 2019, an American F-15E attack aircraft dropped two bombs in the Baghuz area – the first one weighing 227 kg, and then another weighing 907 kg. on a crowd consisting mostly of women and children.

The newspaper noted that the US military recognized this bombing for the first time, which recognition came in response to an inquiry. The United States says the bombing killed at least 80 people, but at the same time says the attack was justified because the 16 extremists in the crowd were killed. The Pentagon also said it was unclear whether the others were civilians or militants, as Islamic State women and children are also known to be armed.

The newspaper writes that the representative of the Central Military Command of the USA, Bill Urban, claims that the army has conducted an internal investigation into the mentioned bombing.

“We hate the death of innocent people and take all possible measures to prevent them. “In this particular case, we have reported and investigated the attack according to our evidence, and we take full responsibility for the involuntary loss of life,” Urban said in a statement.

At the same time, according to the New York Times, an independent investigation has never been conducted, although a lawyer with the U.S. Air Force has reported to management and the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee the deaths caused by the bombings. He (the legal officer) qualified the incident as a war crime.

An employee of the Air Force’s Inspector General told the New York Times that he thought the military wanted to cover up the case. “Management seems determined to bury him. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with it. It makes you lose faith in the system when people try to do the right thing, but none of the leaders want to hear you,” he said.

TABU recalls that on October 23 this year, according to a statement issued by the US Central Command, one of the leaders of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, Abdul Hamid al-Matar, was killed in an airstrike in northwestern Syria.

The civil war in Syria

The Syrian civil war has been going on for almost a decade. Attempts by movements such as the Syrian Democratic Forces to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have failed.

The Syrian democratic forces are armed by allies and the United States, while the Syrian army is armed mainly by Russia. Russia is the only country officially invited to Syria by President Bashar al-Assad.

In 2017, the United States launched a massive missile strike on Bashar al-Assad’s forces after a report emerged that the Syrian president had used chemical weapons to attack his people in the country. Syria and Russia deny such actions.

During his tenure, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw much of US troops from Syria, leaving several troops to guard Syria’s oil fields on the pretext of “falling into the hands of Islamic State.”

With the withdrawal of the United States, Turkey comes to the fore, declaring it necessary to deal with the Kurds and the PKK movement in the northern part of the country, which borders Turkey. That is why Erdogan is sending troops in an attempt to build a stable and secure 30km zone between Syria and Turkey, which will prevent future terrorist attacks on Turkish territory, as it is.

Ceasefire

In February 2020, Turkey lost at least 62 troops killed in Syria. Nearly 100 soldiers were wounded, Syrian-backed forces destroyed dozens of Turkish armored vehicles, and more than ten drones, including drones, were shot down. Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of involvement in the deaths of Turkish soldiers, Russia rejects these allegations.

In early March 2020, the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed that a ceasefire came into force in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad later said that if the US and Turkish military did not leave the country, Damascus would use military power.

The reason for the Russian-Turkish negotiations was a sharp aggravation of the situation in Idlib, where in January, a large-scale offensive by the Syrian army against the positions of the armed opposition and terrorists began.

Government forces recaptured nearly half of the Idlib de-escalation zone and left behind several Turkish observation posts. After that, Ankara sharply increased its military contingent in the region and launched the operation “Spring Shield” to push the Syrian troops. Militants are loyal to Ankara and support Turkey.

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