NYT: US military unit hides civilian casualties in Syria

By Al Mayadeen Net
Source: The New York Times
13 Dec 2021 15:14
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The New York Times has reported that US airstrikes in 2019 killed dozens of women and children and that these operations were kept from the public and senior military leaders.

US military forces in Syria.

The New York Times revealed in a lengthy investigation that a top-secret American combat cell launched tens of thousands of bombs and missiles against the ISIS terrorist organization in Syria, disclosing that this shadowy force, however, exceeded guarantees and repeatedly killed civilians, according to the testimonies of several current military personnel and former US intelligence officials.

The newspaper revealed that the Talon Anvil unit worked in three shifts around the clock between 2014 and 2019, identifying targets for the US air force to bomb, including convoys, car bombs, command centers, and teams of enemy fighters.

However, people who worked with this cell say that in its rush to destroy enemies, the cell circumvented the rules of protecting non-combatants and alarmed its military and CIA partners by killing people who had no part in the conflict, such as farmers trying to harvest crops, children on the streets, and villagers seeking shelter in buildings.

US violation of military rules

The unit had fewer than 20 people operating from anonymous rooms cluttered with flat screens. However, it was able to play an outsize role by launching 112,000 bombs and missiles, partly because it followed a loose interpretation of the military rules of engagement.

“They were ruthlessly efficient and good at their jobs,” said one former Air Force intelligence officer who worked on hundreds of classified Talon Anvil missions from 2016 to 2018. “But they also made a lot of bad strikes.”

Despite how bad the strikes were and the number of souls they reaped, the military officer claimed that the air war against ISIS is considered the "most precise and humane in military history", and stressed that the "strict rules and oversight" by top leaders kept civilian deaths to a minimum.

However, four current and former military officials say the majority of strikes were ordered not by top leaders but by relatively low-ranking US Army Delta Force commandos in Talon Anvil.

The US targets women, children

Last month, the New York Times reported that a Special Operations bombing run in 2019 killed dozens of women and children, but the aftermath was concealed from both the public and top military leaders.

In November, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a high-level investigation into the strike that was carried out by Talon Anvil.

When presented with the Times’ findings, several current and former senior Special Operations officers denied any pattern of reckless airstrikes by the cell, disregarding all civilian casualties.

Four military US officials speak up; who is to blame?

The four US military officials told the newspaper that as the bad strikes escalated, the Talon Anvil cell partners sounded the alarm.

Senior CIA officers complained to special operations commanders about the alarming pattern of the strikes, and the Air Force teams conducting intelligence work with Talon Anvil have also argued in this course via a secure network known as the Red Line.

Even within Talon Anvil, some members have at times refused to participate in strikes targeting people who do not appear to be participating in the fighting.

The four officials worked in different parts, but they all interacted directly with Talon Anvil in hundreds of strikes and soon became concerned about its modus operandi.

No calls were answered

Although the officers notified the immediate superiors and the command overseeing the air war of what they saw, their reports went unheeded.

The former Air Force intelligence officer, who worked almost daily on missions from 2016 to 2018, said he notified the main Air Force operations center in the region about civilian casualties several times, including a March 2017 strike when Talon Anvil dropped a 500-pound bomb on a building sheltering around 50 people.

Every year, the civilian casualty rate in Syria increased significantly, according to Larry Lewis, a former Pentagon, and State Department advisor who was one of the authors of a 2018 Defense Department report on civilian harm.

Lewis said the rate was 10 times that of similar operations he had tracked in Afghanistan.

“It was much higher than I would have expected from a US unit,” Lewis said. “The fact that it increased dramatically and steadily over a period of years shocked me.”