US drone victim and father of ten, Lotfi Hassan Misto.
CENTCOM Lied About Drone Strike in
Northwest Syria That Killed a Civilian
Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
(May 24, 2023) — US Central Command claimed they killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in a May 3 drone strike when announcing it on Twitter even though they had no confirmation of who died, CNN reported Tuesday.
The victim of the drone strike turned out to be 56-year-old Lotfi Hassan Misto, a father of 10 who was killed while herding his sheep in the Idlib countryside. Relatives and neighbors said he had no affiliation with al-Qaeda, and terrorism experts told The Washington Post there was no evidence that he did.
The announcement made by CENTCOM on Twitter said: “At 11:42 am local Syrian time on 3 May, US Central Command Forces conducted a unilateral strike in Northwest Syria targeting a senior Al Qaeda leader. We will provide more information as operational details become available.”
Media helped cover up US drone killing of 12-year-old in Yemen.
Unnamed Pentagon officials told CNN that the announcement was ordered by Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of CENTCOM. One official said Kurilla’s subordinates urged him to hold off on the tweet until they knew who they killed, although two other officials denied that happened.
The command still claims that it doesn’t know if it targeted a civilian. CENTCOM did not launch an investigation on the strike until May 15 despite the fact that evidence surfaced immediately that a civilian was killed.
CENTCOM’s deception follows a familiar pattern as the US military is notorious for undercounting civilian casualties or lying about them. There is also a clear history of US drone strikes killing civilians despite them being framed as precision strikes.
In 2015, documents leaked by whistleblower Daniel Hale revealed that during a five-month period between 2012 and 2013, 90 percent of the people killed by US drones were civilians. Hale is currently serving a 45-month sentence for revealing the information.
US Eyes New Military Base in Iraq’s Oil-rich Region
Media speculates US chose new base
due to Al-Jazira’s large oil and gas fields
(May 23, 2023) — The United States is widely monitoring one of the western regions of Iraq’s Al-Anbar to build its second military base in the province after the Ain Al-Assad base, an Iraqi security source revealed, as cited by local media outlets.
The media suggested that the US chose Al-Jazira area to construct its military bases due to its large oil and gas fields, as well as other mines.
According to the reports, the area is one of Iraq’s completely safe regions and has not witnessed any attacks for a long time.
Informed Iraqi sources had previously revealed that the US occupation forces are not planning to withdraw from Iraq and are attempting to expand the Ain Al-Assad base by obtaining lands around it.
An expert on Iraqi security issues had previously pointed out that the continued presence of the US occupation troops in Iraq is aimed at supporting Washington’s interests and backing terrorism.
It is noteworthy that Iranian officials have repeatedly underlined that Iran’s goal to expel US troops from the region will continue until achieved.
Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, had warned that Iran’s January 8, 2022, missile attack on Ain Al-Assad base, which came a few days after the martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani by the US, was just the beginning.
Bagheri noted that the Ain Al-Assad base, the biggest US occupation base in Iraq, was known as one of the planning bases for the assassination of General Soleimani.
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