The US Special Operations Forces launched an operation on Thursday morning to target the leader of Al Qaeda in Syria. The US Defense Department informed that the mission was successful, but now reports are coming from the scene that 13 civilians, including children, have died and many civilians have been injured in this raid.
According to the news of the Washington Post, the civil defense group White Helmets working in Syria has informed that they have so far removed 13 bodies from the scene. These include the bodies of 6 children and 4 women. The group also reported that they treated the wounds of a young girl whose entire family died in the attack.
Helicopters landed in Idlib province at 1 p.m.
Citizens of northern Idlib province said they heard Helicopters sound at around 1 p.m., followed by gunshots. American commandos landed in Syria’s Atmeh by helicopter after midnight. This village is located on the border of Turkey. Here they surrounded and attacked a house.
People were asked to evacuate homes
, according to the New York Times news, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and US analysts who analyzed social media reports in Syria said that women and children were asked to vacate homes over loudspeakers. About two hours later, American commandos launched the mission. The army fired grenades at the house, after which the terrorists present in the house retaliated. A long fight ensued from both the sides.
During the operation, an American helicopter suffered a technical fault, due to which it was forced to land. It was later destroyed by American attack aircraft. In the night itself, American commands and other helicopters flew from there.
The Pentagon said that no American had lost their lives.
On the intervening night of Wednesday-Thursday, Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby issued a statement saying- ‘US Special Operations Forces under US Central Command had attacked Northwest Syria this evening. carried out an anti-terror operation in This mission has been successful. No American died in it. More details about the operation will be released as soon as we get it.
Corpses are seen in social media posts,
however, posts on social media are telling a different story. According to the New York Times, Charles Lister, director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said after watching the videos that it appeared among the debris of the house targeted by the US. 9 bodies of children are being taken out.
People present at the scene said that the US attack caused damage to the house, while a senior US military official said that there was an explosion in the house, which was not caused by American shelling.
Charles Lister said that the size of the encounter and the time it lasted, it can be assumed that America’s target was a big leader of Al-Qaeda , said Charles Lister. He said that what else could be the reason that the US sent commandos instead of doing airstrike.
However, US military officials declined to give details about whether the target was a local al Qaeda leader or the group’s top leader, Aiman al-Zawahiri, who is believed to be hiding in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is doubt.
US airstrikes in this province In
early December, a US MQ-9 Reaper drone struck in Idlib province in anticipation of the presence of a senior al-Qaeda leader, but preliminary analysis of the attack showed that the drone missile struck Al-Qaeda. A Syrian family was also attacked along with a Qaida leader. The terrorist was killed, while the Syrian family was injured.
