The US military has confirmed that the international coalition against the Islamic State, led by the US, mistakenly hit the position of their Kurdish allies and killed 18 fighters. The air attack took place on Tuesday in northern Syria, where the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are slowly but surely advancing toward the main stronghold of ISIS, the city of Raqqa. The SDF is dominated by fighters of the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG).
Wrong coordinates
Currently, they managed to surround jihadists of ISIS in Tabke, mainly thanks to the air and ground support coalition.
The US Central Command claims to have received the wrong coordinates. They said that information came from the SDF.
It is not yet known from which country of the coalition is the plane that carried out the attack. "The deepest sympathy of coalition goes to members of the SDF and their families. The coalition is in close contact with our partners from the SDF who expressed determination to stay in the fight against ISIS, despite this tragic incident," said a statement by the US command. The statement also said that they will implement safety measures that should prevent such incidents. This is the latest in a series of incidents related to coalition forces after the Mosul airstrike accidentally killed nearly 200 civilians.
The US military denies Syrian accusations
At the same time, the Syrian army accused the US coalition of an air attack yesterday evening, which hit ISIS' stash of chemical weapons and killed "hundreds of people including a large number of civilians," writes the Independent.
A spokesman for the US coalition against ISIS, John Dorrian, resolutely denied the accusations of the Syrian army, accusing it of deliberate misinformation.
He also added that the coalition did not carry out any airstrikes at the specified time, according to Reuters. This unconfirmed accusation can be interpreted as an attempt by the Syrian regime to divert attention from a much stronger charge for its own attack with Sarin last week, which killed 87 civilians. The US has confirmed that radar caught a Syrian plane at the scene at the time of the attack.
Samples from the scene -- blood and urine of victims -- were tested by Turkey and the United Kingdom. Both countries confirmed that it was indeed sarin.
The denial of Syria and its ally Russia did not convince the American president Donald Trump who ordered the rocket attack on the airbase from which the sarin attack was allegedly carried out.
