The US Central Command said Sunday that a 2019 airstrike that killed civilians in Syria was "legitimate," after a New York Times investigation said the military had concealed the death of some 70 non-combatants.
The New York Times published the results of its investigation on Saturday saying a US special task force operating in Syria -- sometimes leaving its military partners in the dark to preserve secrecy -- dropped three bombs on a cluster of civilians near the Islamic State group bastion of Baghouz, killing 70 people, mainly women and children.
The report says a US legal officer "flagged the strike as a possible war crime" but that "at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike."
Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a detailed statement on the strikes and said an investigation found they were "legitimate self-defense strikes," "proportional" and that "appropriate steps were taken to rule out the presence of civilians."
An investigation was launched after a military report found there had likely been civilian casualties.
Along with 16 IS fighters determined to have been killed in the strikes, the investigation concluded at least four civilians were killed and eight wounded.
"We self-reported and investigated the strike according to our own evidence and take full responsibility for the unintended loss of life," said CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Bill Urban.
He said the investigation could not "conclusively characterize the status of more than 60 other casualties," adding that some women and children, "whether through indoctrination or choice, decided to take up arms in this battle and as such could not strictly be classified as civilians."
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and their US-led coalition allies declared the defeat of a self-proclaimed IS "caliphate" in March 2019 after ousting jihadists from their last Syrian stronghold in the eastern village of Baghouz.
sw/dw
THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY