US Military Concealed 2019 Airstrike In Syria That Killed Dozens Of Civilians - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2021) The US military has been concealing an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians during the 2019 battle of Baghuz in Syria and is among the most devastating civilian casualty incidents in the fight against the Islamic State (terrorist group, banned in Russia), The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The incident took place on March 18, 2019, resulting in up to 80 people being killed. The strike is said to have been called in by Task Force 9, a secret US special operations unit that was responsible for ground operations in Syria.

After the personnel at the US Combined Air Operations Center saw the attack via the live drone footage, an Air Force intelligence officer contacted an Air Force lawyer, who brought the matter to his superiors, saying that an independent investigation was in order.

According to the news outlet, an investigation into the incident never took place and that the military tried to conceal the strike. So much so that all mentions of the Baghuz incident were edited out from a recently released report by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General was working on the civilian casualties reporting process.

When the newspaper sent its findings to the US Central Command, it admitted that the incident had taken place but stated that 16 militants and four civilians had been killed, while the status of the other 60 people was unclear since the Islamic State's women and children occasionally fight as well.