U.S. service members killed after Syrian explosion
- by Kelli Lowe
- in Global Media
- — Jan 16, 2019
The town and its surrounding area has been controlled by the USA -backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by the YPG terrorist group, since August 2016 after ousting Deash terrorists who captured the town from moderate opposition in January 2014.
An Islamic State in Iraq and Syria-affiliated website, Amaq, said an attacker with an explosive vest had struck a foreign military patrol in a suicide attack. Another official told Reuters that four USA soldiers had been killed and three had been wounded.
Ruptly's contributor on the ground said the U.S. military ramped up security inside the city following the attack and put the city hospital, where victims have been transported, on lockdown.
Graham's dramatic statement associating Trump's words with the bloody attack that killed Americans came from a loyalist who has golfed frequently with the president, although he has also tried to the president out of a policy he has called unsafe to Americans. Later reports confirmed U.S. soldiers were killed in the attack.
Doctors in Manbij told VOA two us soldiers were killed instantly. This official also said that the suicide bomber deliberately approached forces before detonating his device.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 16 people have died, including five US-backed fighters as well as nine civilians.
The White House referred questions back to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon Friday confirmed it had begun pulling out some equipment from Syria as part of the pull-out, but that some 2,000 US forces would remain in place until conditions on the ground allowed for them to leave.
The suicide attack in Manbij is just the latest hard truth assessment on how the USA remains locked in a brutal fight against a formidable enemy, despite Trump's pronouncements that ISIS' reign of terror is all but over. Coalition forces conducted a routine patrol in Syria today.
Last month, the President said that ISIS had been defeated.
"My concern about the statements made by President Trump is that (he) had set in motion an enthusiasm by the enemy we are fighting", Graham said. And now I'm seeing it in Syria'.
He announced in December he would be pulling out about 2,000 American troops in Syria.
"While it may not hold territory, it certainly has battle-hardened fighters and facilitators who have blended back into the local population", he said.
The soldiers were killed during an explosion in the northern town of Manbij. "We won", he said in a video posted on Twitter. It's unclear whether it was a USA -operated helicopter, as Dalati claimed, or one operated by an ally.
Eyewitnesses in Manbij told Sputnik that the explosion took place near a cafe where the leaders of the council and guests from a delegation, "whose identity has not yet been established", had gathered.
