One American strider cell that secretly launches tens of thousands of bombs and missiles against Islamic groups in Syria, but in the process of hammering enemies, shadow strength exceeds protection and repeatedly killing civilians, according to some of the current military and former and intelligence officials.
The unit, called Talon Anvil, works in three shifts around the clock between 2014 and 2019, shows the target for US air power to achieve: convoys, car bombs, command centers and enemy fighters.
But people who work with strike cells say in a hurry to destroy the enemy, it avoids the rules imposed to protect non-combatants, and worry about their partners in the military and the CIA by killing people who do not have a role in conflict: farmers try Harvest, children on the road, families fled from battle and villagers took refuge in buildings.
Small Anvil Talon – Sometimes less than 20 members – but plays the role of outsize in 1,12,000 bombs and missiles launched against it, partly because it embraces loose interpretation of the rules of military involvement.
“They are very efficient,” said the former Air Force intelligence officer who worked on hundreds of Talon Anvil missions from 2016 to 2018.
“But they also made a lot of bad strikes.” The military billed air war fighting was as the most appropriate and humane in history, and the words of the rules and supervision by the top leaders made civilian death minimally even though it was a malignant bomb rate.
In fact, four officials today and former military officials said the majority of strikes were ordered not by top leaders but with low-ranking commands in Talon Anvil.
NYT reported last month that the bombing carried out in 2019 killed dozens of women and children, and after it was hidden from public and military leaders.
The strike was carried out by Talon Anvil.
Every year that strike cells are operated, the level of civilian casualties in Syria increased significantly, according to Larry Lewis, a former Advisor to the Ministry of Pentagon and the state.
When served with findings, some special operating officers at this time and the former denied the widespread pattern of a reckless air strike and ignored to limit civilian casualties.
Captain Bill Urban, a military command spokesman, declined to comment.