Family of 6, including child, wounded in US strike in Syria

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Gettysburg Times

A U.S. airstrike targeting an al-Qaida leader in northern Syria wounded a family of six, including a 10-year-old child who suffered serious head injuries, The Associated Press has learned. Ahmad Qassim had picked up his family from his in-laws in northwestern Syria where they had spent four days and was driving back home Friday morning when an explosion occurred, riddling their vehicle with shrapnel.

Qassim, a 52-year-old farmer, his wife, two sons and two daughters suffered various wounds in the blast apparently caused by a missile fired from a U.S. drone. The drone was targeting a man on a motorcycle that Qassim was trying to overtake, according to Qassim and first responders. The blast occurred near the northwestern village of Mastoumeh as the family drove back home to the northern town of Afrin.

The U.S. military says it conducted a strike from a remotely piloted MQ-9 aircraft Friday near the city of Idlib targeting “a senior al-Qaeda leader and planner.” An initial review of this strike indicates the potential for possible civilian casualties, it added.

“We abhor the loss of innocent life and take all possible measures to prevent them. The possibility of a civilian casualty was immediately self-reported to U.S. Central Command,” said Capt. Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson. He added: “We are initiating a full investigation of the allegations and will release the results when appropriate.”

Read more: https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/national/article_b9388486-7410-59f4-86fa-68b6e84105fa.html

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News of the civilian casualties comes days after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appointed a four-star general to investigate a deadly March 2019 strike in Syria that caused civilian casualties, including women and children.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the strike in Baghouz killed up to 64 women and children.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

1. .

[marie999]

2. You think this is bad, wait until we start using weapons that are not controlled by humans.

[speak easy]

4. I am more concerned by the weapons that are controlled by humans.

Half a million died in the war in Syria.

[McKim]

5. Yes, Syria Was Once an OK Country, Now a Battleground!

Yes, Syria was once a functional country with flaws but working for your average person. They refused to be colonized by the international economy. I visited there in 2000. It was safe, friendly, crowds out at night in family groups in Damascus. They had health care, education and civilization. Surely it was not a human rights paradise. People were left alone unless they opposed the government. But they had a level of civilization with the majority of businesses mom and pop family style shops, no big chain stores. We had Christmas Eve in a church in Aleppo that today is a ruin. And today, it is a battleground, insecure, no place to raise a family as outside forces battled for a pipeline route, business opportunities and regional strategic power bases. We ruined their lives. Time to bring the troops home.