Errant raid kills 18 Syria allies

A MISDIRECTED air strike in Syria by the American-led coalition killed 18 allied fighters battling ISIS, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The Pentagon said coalition aircraft were given the wrong coordinates by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces for Tuesday’s strike intended for an ISIS target near the city of Raqqa.

Several nations have lent their air power to the U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS. It was not revealed which country’s air force was behind the errant strike.

The Kurdish group acknowledged the strike — saying a number of its fighters were killed and wounded.

The group held funerals Thursday morning for 17 of its fighters in the border town of Tal al-Abyad, the Syrian Democratic Forces-linked Hawar news agency said.

The agency did not say whether the fighters had been killed in the air strike.

The countryside near Raqqa remains under ISIS control. The United States and its coalition have been bombing ISIS targets in Syria since 2014.

Syrian President Bashar Assad claims the chemical attack launched on a rebel-held town was a “fabrication” by the U.S. as an excuse to launch missiles at one of his air bases.

“Definitely, 100% for us, it’s fabrication,” Assad told AFP. Assad’s remarks are the first since the April 4 attack that killed almost 100 people — many women and children — and injured hundreds more.