yahoo : Russia Had to Call U.S. Twice to Stop Syria Airstrike

Russia Had to Call U.S. Twice to Stop Syria Airstrike

U.S. Central Command has launched an investigation into the mistaken airstrike on Syrian troops over the weekend.On Saturday, about 30 minutes after precision bombs from an armada of American, British, Danish, and Australian warplanes began smashing into a large group of Islamic State fighters gathered near Deir el-Zour, Syria, the phone rang.But there was a problem.

How a U.S. Airstrike Missed ISIS, but Damaged U.S. Policy in Syria

"The biggest judgment they need to make is to stop Assad from bombing people indiscriminately, which he continues to do," Mr. Kerry said."To allow him to continue to go after opposition, pretending that they are Nusra, is in and of itself a huge challenge to this effort."The new plan to reduce violence was designed to prevent Syrian forces from bombing American-backed opposition groups while claiming the groups were embedded with Nusra forces, which until recently were officially linked to Al Qaeda.The situation in Syria on Sunday showed that the cease-fire that began last Monday was fraying.

Mysterious American Flags In Northern Syria Were Planted By U.S. Troops, Pentagon Says

Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesWASHINGTON ― U.S. forces operating in northern Syria raised American flags in the region last week, a Defense Department spokesman told The Huffington Post on Monday.The revelation comes after theories about the flags have been circulating on social media for days, as observers of politics in the tense region ― where Kurds, Arabs and Turks all connected to the U.S. are competing for power ― guessed at the provenance of the stars and stripes.One school of thought suggested that Syrian Kurdish forces, which are key U.S. partners in the fight against Islamic State militants but terrorists in the eyes of U.S. ally Turkey, raised the flags to fake a U.S. presence in their territory.