US denies Syria air attack

BEIRUT, June 18, (Agencies): Iraqi Shiite forces and Syria accused Monday the United States of hitting their troops inside Syria with an airstrike, a charge the US denied but which ratcheted up tensions in the area nonetheless.

Iraq’s Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, the units’ umbrella organization, said in a statement that US aircraft fired two missiles that hit late Sunday night a group of its fighters who were deployed along the Iraq-Syria border to prevent IS from penetrating the Iraqi border. The statement said the attack left 22 fighters dead and 12 wounded, adding that Iraqi and Syrian authorities were aware of their deployment.

“We demand that the American side issues a clarification for what happened,” the Iraqi group said.

Syrian state media had reported earlier that the airstrike against pro-government forces in the far east of the country had caused casualties, while Iraqi officials said it had killed at least 25 Shiite paramilitaries and was just across the border from its own territory.

The Syrian state TV report blamed the attack on the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group, saying it occurred around midnight in the village of al-Hari, to the southeast of the border town of Boukamal. But a coalition spokesman denied that, saying it had not carried out any strikes in the area.

The state TV report, quoting an unnamed military official, gave no breakdown of the casualties other than saying there “were several martyrs and others were wounded.”

In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said statesanctioned Shiite paramilitaries came under attack south of the town of Qaim, just across the border from Boukamal. They said 25 fighters were killed, three are missing and about 30 were wounded. But did not give details into how the attack was carried out, saying only that investigations were under way, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The officials said the dead were mostly

members of Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades, which have been active in Syria’s civil war fighting alongside government forces. Also killed were some members of the Sayyed al-Shuhada Battalions, they said.

In Syria, an official with the socalled “Axis of Resistance” led by Iran, which includes Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and other groups fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces, told The Associated Press that the attack on Syrian and Iraqi positions on both sides of the border had been carried out by American drone aircraft.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of information, added that the troops had been part of a push against IS extremists in the area.

US military spokesman Col Sean Ryan said the coalition was looking into the reports.

“We are aware of the strike near Boukamal, however there have been no strikes by US or coalition forces in that area,” he said. “We’re looking into who that could possibly be, but it wasn’t the US or the coalition.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the airstrike killed 52 foreign

fighters allied with the Syrian government, mostly Iraqis. Shiite militias fighting alongside government forces in Syria include large numbers of Iraqi, Lebanese and Afghan fighters.

Last week, IS launched a major offensive against Boukamal, reaching the outskirts of the town before being pushed back by government forces. The loss of the town would deal a major blow to Iran-backed forces on both sides of the border, who have established a corridor through eastern Syria to link Iran to the Mediterranean Sea.

Syrian and Iraqi forces have driven IS from virtually all the territory it once held in both countries, but the militants still control some remote areas along the border.

Syrian troops and allied militias, backed by Russian airstrikes, have been conducting operations west of the Euphrates River, while the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdishled militia, is operating on the eastern banks. The US-led coalition has struck pro-government forces in the past when they have tried to cross the river. The overnight attacks took place on the western side.

Meanwhile in the country’s north, a deal reached between Turkey and the US to have Kurdish forces withdraw from a town appears to have gone into effect.

Turkey announced its troops began patrols on the outskirts of the key northern Syrian town of Manbij following a recent deal struck with the United States. The army tweeted Turkish and American troops began patrols Monday along the outskirts of Manbij and an area controlled by Turkeybacked forces.

It said the move was part of the Turkish-US deal reached in early June, aiming to secure the town and push out a Syrian Kurdish militia.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

confirmed the patrol began in a speech in northern Samsun province.

Manbij has been a source of tension between the two NATO allies after an American-backed Syrian force took the town from the Islamic State group in 2016.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG forms the backbone of that force but Turkey considers the group terrorists and has been demanding the US cease its support. YPG announced it would leave the strategic town.

Syrian rebels backed by the US-led coalition have seized a massive drug stash worth around $1.4 million during operations against the Islamic State group, the alliance said Monday.

Maghawir al-Thawra, a rebel faction trained by both the United States and Jordan, captured and destroyed the narcotics on May 31 in southeast Syria, the coalition said in a statement.

The drugs were estimated to have a black market value of around $1.4 million (1.2 million euros).

“The cache included more than 300,000 pills of Captagon, an illegal drug frequently trafficked and used by DAESH members,” it said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

They were seized during Maghawir al-Thawra’s operations surrounding the Al-Tanf base, which lies along Syria’s border with Jordan.

Captagon is classified by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime as an “amphetamine-type stimulant” and usually blends amphetamines, caffeine and other substances.

It is often referred to as the “jihadist” drug, as fighters who take it say it helps them stay awake for days and that it numbs their senses, allowing them to kill with abandon.

For at least two years, British and US commandos have been training and advising rebels fighting IS from Al-Tanf.

A 55-kilometre (34 mile) de-confliction zone around the garrison is meant to serve as a buffer between US-backed forces and fighters loyal to Syria’s regime.

The US-led coalition said the seizure of the drugs happened within the zone.

Maghawir al-Thawra announced the drug bust last week in a dramatic video published on its Facebook page.

It included stills of dozens of plastic bags filled with yellow and white pills, which were later shown being set on fire.