American-led airstrike mistakenly kills 18 Syrian allies who were fighting ISIS

Jeva Lange's avatar
By
published
Syrian allies were killed during a U.S. airstrike.
(Image credit: SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP/Getty Images)

An American-led airstrike Tuesday killed 18 Syrian fighters who were assisting in the fight against the Islamic State, The New York Times reports.

Coalition allies had requested Tuesday's strike, believing they had "identified ... an ISIS fighting position." It was in fact a "fighting position" of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who are assisting the U.S. in the fight against ISIS.

Article continues below

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

There have been two other instances in the past month where American-led airstrikes killed civilians or allies. The Pentagon is investigating airstrikes that killed dozens of civilians in a mosque in Syria and as many as 200 people in a building in Mosul, Iraq.

Jeva Lange
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.