‘Why have an army we don’t dare use?’

Asenior French officer involved in the fight against the co-called Islamic State terror group in Syria faces punishment — from his own side — after launching a scathing attack on the tactics used by the US-led coalition to defeat Isil in its remaining stronghold of Hajin, a French army spokesman said yesterday.

Colonel Francois-Regis Legrier, who has been in charge of directing French artillery supporting the Kurdish-led SDF in Syria since October, said the coalition’s focus had been on limiting its own risks and this greatly increased the death toll among civilians and the levels of destruction.

“Yes, the Battle of Hajin was won, at least on the ground — but by refusing ground engagement, we unnecessarily prolonged the conflict and thus contributed to increasing the number of casualties in the population,” Legrier wrote in an article in the National Defense Review.

“We have massively destroyed the infrastructure and given the population a disgusting image of what may be a Western-style liberation leaving behind the seeds of an imminent resurgence of a new adversary,” he said, in rare public criticism of military tactics by a serving officer.

The coalition could have got rid of just 2,000 militant fighters — who lacked air support or modern technological equipment — much more quickly and effectively by sending in just 1,000 troops, he argued.

“This refusal raises a question: why have an army we don’t dare use?” he wrote.

France is one of the main allies in the US-led coalition fighting the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, with its warplanes used to strike militant targets, its heavyartillery backing Kurdish-led fighters and its special forces on the ground.

The article embarrassed French authorities just hours before the coalition is expected to announce the defeat of the hardline Islamist group.

“A punishment is being considered,” French army spokesman Patrick Steiger said in a text message.

The article was removed from the review’s website yesterday.

Isil still controls a diminishing strip of territory along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and allies have expressed concern that a US troop withdrawal from Syria will again destabilise the area.

“We have in no way won the war because we lack a realistic and lasting policy and an adequate strategy,” Legrier wrote. “How many Hajins will it take to understand that we are on the wrong track?”