U.S.-Led Strike on Syrian Troops Called Mistake After 62 Killed

[muriel_volestrangler]

A U.S.-led air strike against Syrian government forces that Russia said killed 62 soldiers, a first in that nation’s civil war, was a mistake, the U.S. Central Command said.

Another 100 Syrian soldiers were wounded in the attack Saturday on a military base in the besieged city of Deir Ezzor, the Russian Defense Ministry said, citing the Syrian military.

The defense ministry said U.S.-led coalition aircraft, two F-16 and two A-10 warplanes, entered Syrian airspace from Iraq. The coalition had carried out an air strike earlier Saturday south of Deir Ezzor, targeting an Islamic State position it had been tracking for some time, according to an e-mail from U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. As soon as Russia informed the U.S. that the attack may have hit the Syrian military, the strike was halted, according to the e-mail.

A senior Russian military official, Lieutenant General Viktor Poznikhir, complained that the Syrian government has done everything required from its side, warning that the U.S. will “carry the responsibility” if the truce collapses.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-17/first-u-s-led-air-strikes-on-syrian-troops-said-to-kill-83

This is a disaster. I can't see any cooperation between Syrian/Russian and US forces after this, so they're going to have to stay many miles apart, and ISIS can live in the middle. Syria/Russia will target anyone on the ground who isn't their own forces, because they won't give a fuck if the US says they're non-extremists.

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. War is messy - do we stay in - or stay out -

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-aleppo-syria-hospital-kills-14-n563966

Do we stand by and let Assad continue to kill and maim his own people...Shiite vs sunni - turks vs kurds vs Syrian - it is getting very tenuous....Above my pay grade....

If you have some quiet time - read the 40 maps at VOX...explains the landscape in the middleeast....be well

http://www.vox.com/a/maps-explain-the-middle-east

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. There was a truce - the US and Assad were meant to be cooperating

This will increase the likelihood of Assad bombing more Syrians, not decrease it.

[asiliveandbreathe]

5. I understand there was a truce - and they were hoping to extend it -

so what is the solution - ?? I don't know.. do we stay in or get out? - I mean that sincerely.

I am a Viet Nam era American, who lost a generation of wonderful young men, (some women..usually health workers).. my generation, to an unnecessary war - my two brothers came home fine..but then they had good family support -

When I think of the cheney's and trumps of the world - it sickens me...

I am the last one who wants our military involved over there in that hundreds of years war -

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. The next move is up to the Syrians and Russians, really

They may just say the Americans and allies should stay out totally and they will not cooperate. They may say they'll attack anyone they don't regard as allies, and the US must do nothing about that. In which case, the US would have to decide whether to protect the Kurds and risk a direct fight with the Syrians and Russians, or tell them they're on their own.

If the US leaves now, it takes pressure off ISIS. Which means they will kill more people in Syria, will be harder to get rid of in Iraq, and Trump will have a way of saying Obama has screwed up.

This is fucking depressing news.

[asiliveandbreathe]

8. I read where they were trying to get all on board to

fight ISIS - and the target was Aleppo - turks-syria-kurds -sunni -Shiite- and had asked the imams to help in the effort - Assad cannot continue to kill his own people..

I understand too, we have given support to the kurds and the NSA - New Syrian Army - and now because of that the NSA says get out - and now the battles won om the border towns by the kurds - the kurds were suppose to move back across the river..what a mess.

..I get confused when people use the term rebels...who's who. really??

he, Assad, ordered crackdowns and military sieges on Arab Spring protesters, leading to the Syrian Civil War -

[karynnj]

16. This was not covered by the truce -- had it been what they thought, ISIS, it would have been ok

The problem was that it was a Syrian regime base.

As to anything going forward, it seemed that Russia's interest in the ceasefire was to get the JIC that would jointly coordinate attacks on ISIS. The US has insisted that that happen only if there is a reduction of violence between the regime and rebels (not Nusra or ISIS) and aid is allowed in. Now, Russia has a better case that this could help everyone avoid exactly this kind of error.

The problem is the US is holding this out as leverage to get the ceasefire and aid in. The problem is the US has almost nothing else they can leverage.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. US troops forced out of Syrian town by anti-Assad rebels

Syrian rebels have chased American forces out of the town of al-Rai, according to local sources.

The Associated Press reports that US troops headed back towards Turkey after a dispute about their presence.

The five or six US special forces were there to support Operation Euphrates Shield, which began last month with Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets.
...
“Dogs, agents of America,” one man can be heard to say in Arabic, according to a translation by Middle East Eye, while others chant “They are crusaders and infidels”, “Down with America”, “'Get out you pigs” and “They are coming to Syria to occupy it”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-war-us-special-forces-chased-town-rebels-free-syrian-army-a7311666.html

Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, has blamed the damaging behaviour by rebels on Washington's profoundly flawed policy in northern Syria. This behaviour, he argues, is the result of a policy that focuses blindly on supporting Kurdish-led forces in the fight against IS, despite the potentially damaging consequences.

Kurdish-led military successes against IS in northern Syria have also created tensions between Arab and Kurdish communities. Kurdish forces have been accused of violations against Arab communities in areas seized from IS, which has led to feelings of fear and mistrust among Syrian Arabs about the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces alliance. There have also been clashes between Turkish-allied forces and the Kurds in different areas in Syria.

Russia and the US, meanwhile, recently reached an agreement to reduce violence in Syria and to conduct joint operations targeting the Fateh al-Sham Front, the rebranded former al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front. Rebel groups, though, were not happy with the agreement to say the least. As they see it, the agreement tips the military balance in favour of the Assad regime. It also increases Washington's cooperation with Moscow, a key ally of the Syrian regime.

“Notwithstanding damage caused by all-cards-in relations with YPG [the mostly Kurdish People's Protection Units], just imagine the consequences of joint military action with Russia,” commented Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/why-were-us-special-forces-chased-out-al-rai-and-what-does-it-say-about-us-policy-1152145647

[pinboy3niner]

4. Last night I asked my neighborhood Syrian shopkeeper when he'll go back again to visit Homs

His last visit was 3 years ago. "Maybe next year," he said.

He and his family are Christians and supporters of Assad.

[malaise]

6. More collateral damage

WTF!!!!

[asiliveandbreathe]

9. It is sad - and we were reluctant to get into this shit -

I don't even know who the good guys are, or who the bad guys are - it seems to change on any given day -

this is a good read about the fight - be well..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aleppo_(2012%E2%80%93present)

[AngryAmish]

10. There are no good guys.

[asiliveandbreathe]

11. I stand corrected - you are right..but,

I wish Assad would stop hurting his own people..

[AngryAmish]

12. Assad is not hurting his own people.

Syria is not a nation state. It is a group of tribes. His tribe is hurting, but it is the other tribes doing the hurting.

Our concepts of governance do not work with all peoples.

[asiliveandbreathe]

13. I am really trying to understand - so you are saying

Assad did not, or is not hurting his own people..so the people of Syria, of many tribes, are not his own people? - oh dear me..

The battle began on 19 July 2012 as a part of the Syrian Civil War. Did not Assad start the Syrian War?

The battle has been marked by the Syrian army's indiscriminate use of barrel bombs dropped from helicopters, killing thousands of people - so the Syrian Army is who?

Hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate.

[AngryAmish]

15. He is an Alawite

Everyone else is a subject.

[asiliveandbreathe]

14. Okay - i understand..authoritarian Assad - has terrible

human rights problems...I get it - that's what I was having a problem with - those of us in a free society don't understand..an authoritarian dictatorship -

Your word's - "Our concepts of governance do not work with all peoples"...I'll take a Democratically elected governance any day - even as difficult as that may be to some..be well..