{"id":47483,"date":"2022-01-22T16:25:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T16:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47483"},"modified":"2022-01-22T16:25:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T16:25:41","slug":"us-bombing-run-over-syrian-dam-risked-tens-of-thousands-of-deaths-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47483","title":{"rendered":"US bombing run over Syrian dam risked tens of thousands of deaths: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nLONDON: A covert US task force came close to decimating a major area in Syria by bombing a dam that the Pentagon had put on a \u201cno-strike list,\u201d a new report claims.<\/p>\n

\nIn 2017, the American unit bombed the Tabqa dam on the Euphrates in eastern Syria, upstream of Raqqa, where Daesh fighters were occupying the control towers.<\/p>\n

\nWhen the attack was originally reported, the US and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces claimed that limited munitions were used to seize the location, with the head of the anti-Daesh coalition describing rumors that it was bombed as \u201ccrazy reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBut new analysis by the New York Times, which has uncovered and reviewed a slurry of bombing incidents from the war against Daesh, claimed that three 2,000-lb bombs were deployed.<\/p>\n

\nThe attack risked tens of thousands of lives, destroying the dam\u2019s machinery and requiring emergency intervention to prevent the reservoir from flooding. The dam was only saved due to a \u201cbunker-buster\u201d bomb failing to explode.<\/p>\n

\nOn March 26, 2017, as the SDF closed in on Raqqa, the US launched the strike with support from its Kurdish allies on the ground, with whom it had established a close relationship for calling in high-powered attacks.<\/p>\n

\nThe SDF called for a B-52 \u2014 the long-range strategic bomber that has been in continual service since the 1950s \u2014 as the fighting party was being blocked from advancing by Daesh fighters further ahead up the reservoir.<\/p>\n

\nSpotting the Islamists in fortified positions in the control towers, a bombing run was requested.<\/p>\n

\nTask Force 9 \u2014 the US Special Operations force working alongside the SDF on the Raqqa advance \u2014 was warned that the dam should not be bombed when it asked the Pentagon\u2019s Defence Intelligence Agency to determine which munitions could be used.<\/p>\n

\nBut the unit ignored this advice, using an emergency protocol that allowed it to call in airstrikes beyond the ordinary chain of command during sudden life-threatening moments, such as the battle with Daesh at the reservoir.<\/p>\n

\nHowever, crew logs from the B-52 flight that undertook the bombing run said it had been required for \u201cterrain denial,\u201d with no reference to lives being at risk from Daesh fighters.<\/p>\n

\nThe bombing run was devastating. Fifty feet of water quickly rose as the machinery was bust, with dams on the Euphrates in Turkey further upstream rushing to slow the flow.<\/p>\n

\nA one-day ceasefire was called to allow a group of 16 engineers from all sides of the conflict to lift the floodgates and prevent further damage.<\/p>\n

\nThree of those engineers were killed after they had successfully used a crane to lift the gates, bombed by a drone while driving home.<\/p>\n

\nThe dam strike reportedly shocked US Air Force personnel and military planners. Scott Murray, a retired USAF colonel, was quoted by the NYT as saying: \u201cUsing a 2,000 lb bomb against a restricted target like a dam is extremely difficult and should have never been done on the fly. Worst case, those munitions could have absolutely caused the dam to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Pentagon defended the strike, saying it had targeted the dam\u2019s control towers, not its structure.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAnalysis had confirmed that strikes on the towers attached to the dam were not considered likely to cause structural damage to the Tabqa dam itself,\u201d said Bill Urban, a US Central Command spokesman, adding that the dam had not collapsed. \u201cThat analysis has proved accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON: A covert US task force came close to decimating a major area in Syria by bombing a dam that the Pentagon had put on a \u201cno-strike list,\u201d a new report claims. In 2017, the American unit bombed the Tabqa dam on the Euphrates in eastern Syria, upstream of Raqqa, where Daesh fighters were occupying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}