The Pentagon announced Thursday that a U.S. coalition airstrike targeting ISIS forces in Syria mistakenly killed 18 rebel fighters allied with the U.S. instead. The airstrike, carried out on Tuesday, is the third U.S.-led bombing in the last month to result in civilian and allied causalities.
From the New York Times:
Tuesday’s strike was requested by coalition allies who were on the ground near Tabqah, the United States Central Command, which oversees combat operations in the Middle East, said in a statement. The fighters had called in the airstrikes and “identified the target location as an ISIS fighting position,” it said, using another name for the Islamic State. The Central Command statement said that the target location turned out to be a “fighting position” for the Syrian Democratic Forces, who have been fighting the Islamic State alongside the United States.
The missteps come as the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has intensified of late and as the Trump administration appears set to increase U.S. military engagements across Asia.
