The US military says it’s looking into reports that it killed a civilian in a recent airstrike it launched in northwest Syria.
When US Central Command (CENTCOM) first reported the strike on May 3, the command claimed it killed a senior al-Qaeda leader. But CENTCOM did not name the person and released very little detail about the strike.
Reports immediately surfaced that the strike hit a farm and killed a civilian in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the US launched a drone strike that killed Lutfi Hassan Masto, a 60-year-old sheep herder not affiliated with any militant groups.
The Associated Press spoke with Masto’s brother, Mohamed Masto, who said the claims the 60-year-old was affiliated with al-Qaeda were lies. “He had nothing to do with the revolution. … He had nothing to do with the Al-Nusra Front or with the Islamic State,” he said.
AP also spoke with Fayad Jamil Raji, a neighbor of Masto. “The man was a civilian. He had a farm with poultry, cows, and sheep,” he said.
Maj. John Moore, a spokesman for CENTCOM, said the command is trying to confirm the identity of the person they killed. “We are aware of the allegations of a civilian casualty and the outcome of the confirmation process will inform if further investigation is necessary and how it should proceed,” he said.
The US military is notorious for undercounting civilian casualties or lying about them. The Pentagon is also known for investigating itself and finding no wrongdoing, even in instances of significant civilian deaths, such as the August 2021 Kabul drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children.
They’re looking into it. Gee, now I feel better. /s
“They’re looking into it” to admire our smart bombs. Did I tell you how smart our bombs are? Dude, they’re smart. Unlike the dumb Russian bombs, when they hit a maternity hospital, they first rebuild it on the molecular level into an “advanced” ISIS base “backed by Iran.” Then they “smartly” destroy it, killing only “senior ISIS leaders.” They’ve been 123.6% successful so far. (Source: Smart Sarcasm News)
“US Military Probing Reports It Killed a Civilian in Recent Syria Airstrike – CENTCOM claimed it killed an al-Qaeda leader, but locals say a sheep herder was killed. The Pentagon is also known for investigating itself and finding no wrongdoing”
There was a bank robber who while robbing a bank murdered everyone in the bank.
After his apprehension he was tasked with investigating the crime and determining guilt.
His report to the court concluded that he was not responsible and that the murdered people all died of natural causes and the money stolen just evaporated and cannot be found.
Critical thinker, you forgot the dead people in the bank “…hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.” (Sarcasm)
Not to worry. In the event of wrongful death the family will be awarded the standard generous compensation, $2K and 2 goats.
You forgot to mention American Hershey Bars! If they care to, they can feed it to the goats and have chocolate milk. 😉
Syrian: No Hershey bars. I have no goats and no teeth left. We’re starving. Remember? Just do us a big favor. Kill us all and send us to heaven for free. (Sarcasm alert)
Murderers!
It would be a simple picture of the supposed dead guy with a newspaper to settle this.
I’m kind of curious why it hasn’t been provided.
“It would be a simple picture of the supposed dead guy with a newspaper to settle this.” Simple. That would be too ugly for our taste. Not because of how ugly he was, but because we don’t want to see the ugly truth. (Sarcasm alert)
They made the claim their guy is still alive but they are not providing a simple picture/selfie?
That’s curious to the point of questioning the claim.
I agree 100%. I’m just having trouble controlling my cynicism and sarcasm this morning. Sorry.
Current events deserve sarcasm and cynicism.
This claim has been around for over a week yet the folks making it hasn’t even provided any proof other than there were goats or some other livestock were involved.
Why couldn’t the guy have a small or even a large herd of whatever they raise over there?
Around my small unincorporated town it would be cattle or hogs and those guys are not living in poverty in the least.
They were actually aiming at one of his sheep.
KILL KILL KILL
The CIA and the Democrat movement in the USA have been fixated on the use of murder for the past 75 years.
This blood-lust now has no bounds. I picture a twisted group of perverted sicko’s, grinning feindishly, wringing their boney hands, and watching the video shot by the Reaper drone as it blew this man to pieces.
SHAME!!!
Republicans as well as Democrats are blood thirsty murderers.
Maj. John Moore, a spokesman for CENTCOM, said the command is trying to confirm the identity of the person they killed. “We are aware of the allegations of a civilian casualty and the outcome of the confirmation process will inform if further investigation is necessary and how it should proceed,” he said.
Translation: We know he was a civilian and we really don’t give a fuck. But we will go through the motions and get back to you with our bullshit excuse when we are god damned good and ready
If he had been killed accidentally by the Russians, the Media would say it was not accidental, it was deliberate. The US says when they kill innocent bystanders, it is collateral damage. The US should get out of the other war zones in addition to getting out of Afghanistan.
The Media is always saying Russia is bad for going to war with Ukraine but praises the US for its forever wars.
“The US says when they kill innocent bystanders, it is collateral damage.”
But only after the denials. And it usually takes video confirmation like it did with those 10 people blown to bits in Afghanistan during the withdrawal that was originally called a “righteous” strike.
If it’s anything like Afghanistan a top US general will apologize for killing a civilian, because they were found out, and then the US military will return to killing unknown numbers of civilians becaue ‘we don’t keep track of deaths.’ That’s how they got to the 4.5 million deaths figure. . . (In fact the Pentagon doesn’t even report US military deaths any longer.)
As if they would care, but if it can be used for some form of propaganda, by all means, use it. Talking about a f***ed up political gang.