US Airstrikes Kill Over 50 Near Former ISIS Village in Syria

Officials very much want to brand the ISIS battle in Syria as “over,” so long as it is understood that it won’t involve withdrawing forces or ending anything in practice. The village of Baghouz, however, continues to be the center of conflict.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, US forces attacked some caves on the outskirts of Baghouz on Thursday, killing over 50 people. They are assuming everyone killed was an ISIS remnant, though of course none were positively identified.

The conclusion of ISIS is based on the fact that ISIS had fighters hidden in caves and connecting underground bunkers. Yet there was also what Kurdish forces described as a nearly endlessnumber of civilians hiding in the same area, with tens of thousands fleeing the tiny village long after everyone had assumed it was more or less entirely depopulated.

That the strikes are still centering on what is effectively Baghouz also undercuts claims that the Kurds actually “won” in that village, as clearly the US believes someone is still there worth dropping bombs on well after the war was called over.