U.S. Bombed a Mosque in Syria, Killing Dozens of Civilians, Investigators Conclude
▻https://theintercept.com/2017/04/19/u-s-bombed-mosque-syria-killing-dozens-civilians-investigators-conclud
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOyihqEOfYA
As my colleague Alex Emmons reported last month, Syrian activists and first responders accused the United States of killing dozens of civilians in an airstrike that mistakenly targeted a mosque in the rebel-held village of al-Jinah on the evening of March 16.
After +24 hrs, @SyriaCivilDef teams finished work in AlJenah town hit by airstrikes yesterday, documenting 50 victims & 10s wounded. #syria pic.twitter.com/mXX1eXzNep
— Majd khalaf (@majdkhalaf1993) March 17, 2017
Confronted with these claims, a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Captain Jeff Davis, told The Intercept that they were mistaken. “The area was extensively surveilled prior to the strike in order to minimize civilian casualties,” Davis said. “We deliberately did not target the mosque.”
As evidence, Davis provided an aerial photograph of the building destroyed in the attack, identified by U.S. officials as a “partially constructed community meeting hall.”