How US Hid An Airstrike That Killed Dozens Of Civilians In Syria's Baghuz

Strike Was One Of Largest Civilian Casualty Incidents Of War Against IS, But It Has Never Been Publicly Acknowledged By US Military

- Dave Philipps & Eric Schmitt

In the last days of the battle against the Islamic State group in Syria, when members of the once-fierce caliphate were cornered in a dirt field next to a town called Baghuz, a US military drone circled high overhead, hunting for military targets. But it saw only a large crowd of women and kids huddled against a riverbank.

Without warning, a US F-15E attack jet streaked across the drone’s field of vision and dropped a nearly 227-kg bomb on the crowd, swallowing it in a blast. As the smoke cleared, a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then a jet tracking them dropped one 907-lg bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors.

It was March 18, 2019. At the US military’s busy combined air operations centre at al-Udeid air base in Qatar, uniformed personnel watching the live drone footage looked on in stunned disbelief, according to one officer who was there.