Once again underscoring the risk of US and Russian forces both operating in Syria while US officials continue to resist intelligence sharing, a “near-miss” incident has been reported in which Russian airstrikes landed “several miles” away from US positions.
Details on the matter of scant, as Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend described it as taking place in “a bunch of villages” in which US troops and their Arab Coalition allies were attacking ISIS. Russia thought it was also bombing ISIS in the same area, but hit some of the rebels.
Townsend insisted the matter was quickly resolved with a call to the “deconfliction” channel open with the Russians, adding that Russian bombings stopped right away after they found out they were hitting the wrong target. Such incidents are not common, but are also not unprecedented in the war.
That some US officials have been uncomfortable with providing details to Russia about where their troops are means such incidents are always a risk, however, as any time Russia launches airstrikes against ISIS forces, they are taking a calculated risk that US forces might be embedded somewhere nearby.
C’mon Trump, get US troops out of Syria and let Russia take care of business. Who is running the show, Obama?
No. Probably Pence…
Now that is a scary thought…Pence couldn’t find his a$$ with a road map and a flashlight.
But he could pray to the sky fairy to help him find it.
One gets dizzy with all the renaming going on. UK is a patron saint of Al-Qaeda, and renamed them already three times. After Al-Nusra, they became something Al-Sham, and now again something else. Now, US keeps on renaming the Kurds, repacksging them with a few Arabs, so they can be called Syrian something. Same but little different — Arab coalition allies? In that area? At ghe same time thst gloves are off — and Turkey is fighting Kurds around Afrin. While not far, in Idlib, a former US vetted group just today split three ways — and are fighting to extermination. One group assasinated other group’s leader and two others, and the fight started over unpaid salaries — as CIA cut them off, but since they received US tow missiles, they are selling them to Al-Qaeda or ISIS to generate some cash.
What are US and allies futzing around Al-Bab — since Turkey has liberated it, and the road to Raqqa has been taken by Syrian Army. Are they there to belp Kurds break out of Afrin towards Kobani? TIME TO GO TO RAQQA AND GET THE JOB DONE NOT ANGLE FOR areas that either Turkey or Syrian Army should control. There is plenty of work for everyone — no need to duplicate efforts.
I say the same thing, Rick. Trump’s the 45th POTUS, and it’s his responsibility to pull any and all US troops out of Syria and let Russia take care of business, These troops haven’t been invited in by the Bashar Assad Gov’t., only the Russians have.
I’d say rogue elements within the Pentagon took it upon themselves to send US troops into Syria behind Trump’s back .. And, if this is the case, The Donald sorely needs to retake charge, kick out those rogue elements and pull those troops out ASAP.
Furthermore, he must see to it that Obama’s arrested, since he’s no longer POTUS, but a private citizen.
So what? U.S. troops are illegal invaders in Syria.
First, so it’s an accepted fact that the US “trainers” are no longer “training” but are executing? I don’t remember seeing the memo.
Second, the Russians are not bombing just ISIS – they are also bombing “rebels” supplied by multiple sources. Just because there has been little “reporting” lately mentioning the connection between US agencies and some groups of “rebels” does not mean the US has stopped – they just got the press to keep it out of the mainstream koolaide. So, as happened early on with the Russian involvement, some of the Russian targets are forces being supplied by the US – and if the US has decided to embed US “fighters” as opposed to US “trainers” well, scheisse happens.
The American citizens informed their government once before they were not interested in having US forces involved “on the ground” in Syria. Seems the US government has decided the statute of limitations has expired. And since the American people have not re-upped this non-intervention directive the US government seems to feel they can do what they want regardless of prior restraints.
Time to re-inform the leadership, such as it is, that the American people are tired of losing sons and daughters to a cause that is not our concern. There are priorities that need to be taken care of at home.