Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Pentagon Says Errors Led to Coalition Strike on Syria Regime forces | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55363051
Caption:

An FA-18 Super Hornet takes off from the US Navy’s super carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in July 2016 (AFP Photo/ALBERTO PIZZOLI)


The United States’ Pentagon made a statement on Tuesday saying that intelligence errors resulted in a U.S.-led coalition air strike in Syria in September that reportedly killed around 90 Syrian regime forces.

There were “errors in the development of intelligence, as well as missed opportunities for coalition members on duty to recognize and voice contrary evidence to decision makers,” the US military’s Central Command said in a statement following a six-week probe into the September 17 attack near Deir Ezzor, AFP reported.

The US-led coalition is focused on attacking the ultra-hardline ISIS terror in Syria and Iraq and does not want to get involved in Syria’s brutal civil war.

Australian, Danish, British and American planes all took part in the air strike, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group has said killed at least 90 regime troops.

Brigadier General Richard Coe, who investigated the case, told reporters that each of the four countries “did employ weapons,” dropping a total of 34 guided bombs and firing 380 rounds of 30-mm ammunition.

The targets struck included “defensive fighting positions,” vehicles, tents, tunnels and people — all of which were thought to be legitimate ISIS targets, he added.

The Pentagon said it had only been able to conclusively count 15 deaths, but acknowledged the toll was possibly much higher.

“In this incident, we made an unintentional, regrettable error primarily based on human factors in several areas in the targeting process,” Coe said.