Posted on 01/16/2019 12:59:07 PM PST by McGruff
The location of Wednesday's bomb blast that killed American service members -- the northern Syrian city of Manbij -- has proven vitally strategic for U.S. forces who have had a highly visible presence there for nearly two years.
The Americans have conducted patrols in the city, in vehicles, and on foot, to act as a buffer between Turkey and the U.S.-led coalition's Kurdish partners, a group that's been critical to the fight against ISIS but which Ankara classifies as terrorists.
Manbij has long had a historic population mix of Arabs, Kurds, and other minority groups and was part of a swath of territory overtaken by ISIS. During the summer of 2016, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the Kurds make up a significant portion, retook the city to the dismay of Turkey, which didn't like the Kurds operating so far west into Syria and close to their border.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
This does not sync with reports I got today.
ABC doesn’t have a clue, but writes anyway.
Your second statement is closer to the truth. But it does not nearly cover the total casaulties. Or the perps. Not ISIS.
The article is wrong.
Nope, it was not the CIA.
I was so happy when President Trump said he was pulling our troops (who aren't there legally) out of Syria. We should leave, and if anything, help Assad get the Turks out of Syrian territory.
We already know that there has been a history of CIA backed militants fighting Army backed militants during the years that the Muslim Brotherhood governed in Washington.
U.S. Central Command @CENTCOM 2h2 hours ago
https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1085641390174949376
Two U.S. servicemembers, one Department of Defense (DoD) civilian and one contractor supporting DoD were killed and three service members were injured while conducting a local engagement in Manbij, Syria, Jan. 16, 2019.
more MMC and local civilians were killed
and many more were wounded.
They should have been home 2 weeks ago. Their lives were wasted by our government.
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