At least a dozen killed, including children, after U.S. raid in northern Syria, first responders say
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BEIRUT — U.S. Special Operations forces conducted a counterterrorism mission overnight in northwestern Syria, the Pentagon said early Thursday in a statement that did not specify the target but called the mission “successful.” Residents in the area described a thunderous, early morning assault involving multiple helicopters and heavy machine gun fire that first responders say left at least 13 people dead.
Specifics on the raid, including the number of casualties, could not immediately be confirmed. But the White Helmets, a civil defense group that works in non-government controlled areas of Syria, said that they have retrieved 13 bodies so far, including those of six children and four women, from a house that appeared to be the target of the operation. They also said they treated a nearby resident and a young girl who lived in the house, whose entire family was killed.
Residents in the northern Idlib province said they heard helicopters about 1 a.m. local time, and later, the sound of heavy clashes. Unconfirmed reports circulated that American forces were hunting a leader of the Islamic State or another local jihadist group. “There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
Ahmed, who said he lives less than two miles from the scene of the fighting, said in a telephone interview that he heard helicopters as he was preparing to go to sleep at around 1 a.m. He spoke on the condition that he only be identified by his first name due to safety concerns.
The sound was not unfamiliar in the area — helicopters often arrived to switch out Turkish troops stationed nearby, he said. But this was different.
“The sound was horrible,” he said. He went to his roof, he said, and saw machine gun fire emanating from one of the helicopters. The clashes and the sounds from the helicopters subsided around 4 a.m., he said.
Residents said the raid had targeted a two-story house about a mile from the Turkish border. The White Helmets said its first responders initially could not access the area because of the heavy clashes and bombardment that preceded the U.S. operation. Helicopters left, and the clashes ended shortly after 3 a.m. local time, they said in a statement.
Videos circulating on social media, which The Washington Post was not able to immediately verify, captured what appeared to be the raid and its aftermath. In one widely circulated video, the sound of heavy gunfire can be heard, as what appear to be muzzle flashes, possibly from a helicopter, are seen above the skyline. Other videos captured the sound of someone speaking in Arabic over a loudspeaker, telling children in the house to come out.
“The area is surrounded by land and air,” the person can be heard saying. “The children are without blame. If there are children, they should come to me.”
Photographs purportedly showing the house, taken by a local journalist early Thursday, showed a section of the top floor partially collapsed, and damage to walls that had left rebar exposed. Pictures of the interior showed a sitting room in disarray, and other areas where blood and scattered debris were visible.
A spokesman for the White Helmets said the group “cannot determine whether there were bodies that were retrieved by U.S. forces because there is blood everywhere.”
Fahim reported from Istanbul
Washington News
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