Syrian Government Makes Great Show of Repaired Airfield
The airfield that came under attack from U.S. missiles in April in retaliation for the alleged chemical assault on Khan Shaykhun has been repaired, with a raft of Syrian warplanes returning there, reports Buzzfeed News, citing U.S. defense officials as their source.
In the past few days, the Syrian government began reinstating a number of its Russian-manufactured fighter jets, which had been based in government-held areas around the country, to the recently restored al-Shayrat airfield.
Not only can the move be interpreted as a demonstration by the Assad regime of how little they fear further attacks from U.S. forces, critics have cited the display as evidence of the fragmented nature of President Trump’s Syrian strategy.
“Despite President Trump’s major decision to strike and deter chemical weapons use, the U.S. still has no actual Syria strategy beyond the one the president inherited from his predecessor,” Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria analyst for the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said. “The regime now knows what the boundaries are.”
Coalition Airstrikes in Deir Ezzor Take Civilian Death Toll to 100: SOHR
At least 100 civilians, including women and children, have been killed by U.S.-led coalition air raids on a town in the ISIS-held province of Deir Ezzor, reports Reuters, citing the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of SOHR, said coalition air strikes have hit a number of residential buildings in Mayadeen, a town controlled by the so-called Islamic State in the eastern Syrian province.
“There were two rounds of strikes: one at Thursday night and the second after midnight, targeting buildings housing families of [ISIS] fighters,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the SOHR’s head, said, according to Al Jazeera, adding that 42 children were among those killed.
Meanwhile, in Geneva on Friday, the U.N. human rights chief called on all air forces to take greater care to distinguish between military targets and civilian dwellings, reports Voice of America.
“The rising toll of civilian deaths and injuries already caused by airstrikes in Deir Ezzor and Raqqa suggests that insufficient precautions may have been taken in the attacks,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement.
No Evidence Manchester Bomber Traveled to Syria, say Turkish Officials
Turkish authorities have stated there is no evidence to suggest that Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester, U.K., on Monday, traveled to Syria before returning to Britain to carry out the attack, reports Reuters.
Abedi passed through Istanbul on his way to Europe but there were no records of him entering Syria during his travels, Turkish security officials said on Thursday.
“There is flight traffic before his arrival to Europe. He travels first to Europe, then to a third country and then to Istanbul and back to Europe,” said an official, in regards to Abedi’s movements before the attack, adding that the “third country” was not Syria. “He has not spent any time in Turkey (and) he has not had an entry or exit from Syria during his travels; there is no such information in his records.”
The Turkish version of events directly contradicts a statement from French officials on Thursday, who said British intelligence officers told them that Abedi had “probably traveled to Syria” and may have been radicalized there.
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