US Bombs, Destroys a Mosque in Syria’s Safafiyah

Late on Thursday, the US-led coalition reported that US warplanes attacked and destroyed a mosque in the Syrian town of Safafiyah. The statement claimed the mosque included “an ISIS command and control facility.”

There is no word yet on casualties in the attack. Destroying a mosque on Thursday night is likely to have been less deadly than if they had attacked on Friday, when major sermons take place during the morning.

It is unclear what led the US to decide to destroy this mosque, as the area is not inside of the contested towns that they are generally bombing to support Kurdish offensives. Media reports tied the matter to the Manbij attack earlier this week.

Bombing a mosque is always a risky tactic, as it is liable to rile up the local population about the agenda of the US forces. Though it is not uncommon for the US to claim ISIS is using mosques for their operations, it is unlikely that a mosque in Safafiyah was really that substantial of a command center for ISIS.