Tri-Service

US: Unintentional Human Errors Led To Botched Syria Strike

"The US has admitted to "an unintentional and regrettable" mistake involving coalition aircraft from the UK, US, Denmark and Australia.

A U.S Air Forces Central Command (Centcom) spokesman said it was not the intent to target Syrian forces on 17th September, south of the Syrian town of Dayr Az Zawr.

But a post-attack review shows that it is more likely than not that forces allied to the Syrian regime were hit.

The strikes killed at least 15 fighters aligned with the Syrian regime, believed at the time to be from so-called Islamic State.

The US-led coalition said it thought it was hitting fighting so-called Islamic State positions.

The airstrikes were halted, however, when Russia informed the US they were hitting Syrian forces.

More: Comment: Could The US And Russia Go To War Over Syria?

The U.S Air Forces Central Command said:

"The investigation found the targets were misidentified based on a reasonable interpretation of the information available on the compressed timeline that defines a dynamic strike.

The evidence showed there was not a deliberate disregard of targeting procedures or the rules of engagement.

The investigating officer has identified several factors that led to the misidentification of the targets, and has recommended improvements to existing processes."

The strikes were carried out by coalition forces, including US aircraft, under the coordination and control of the Combined Air Operations Center.

Centcom added:

"There were also errors in the development of intelligence, as well as missed opportunities for coalition members on duty to recognise and voice contrary evidence to decision makers.

Human factors like "confirmation bias," "improper labeling," and "invalid assumptions" resulted in labeling of individuals as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces early in the targeting process, which coloured later analysis and resulted in the continuing misidentification of the forces on the ground."

An unclassified redacted Executive Summary of the investigation will be made available on the US Central Command website.