No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

Mattis: Civilian Casualties in Anti-Daesh Strikes ‘a Fact of Life’

Mattis: Civilian Casualties in Anti-Daesh Strikes ‘a Fact of Life’
folder_openAmericas... access_time6 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

Commenting on the US-Coalition airstrikes targeting civilians in the Battle against Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Takfiri ‘ISIS/ISIL' group], US War Secretary James Mattis considered that "civilian casualties are a fact of life in this sort of situation".

Mattis: Civilian Casualties in Anti-Daesh Strikes ‘a Fact of Life’

Mattis boldly added: "We're not the perfect guys, but we are the good guys. And so we're doing what we can."

Moreover, he noted that the US "accelerated" its tactics against Daesh, moving from a policy of "attrition" to one of "annihilation".

His Sunday remarks came after he cited the suicide bombing in Manchester, which has been claimed by Daesh, in a speech to graduating cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"Manchester's tragic loss underscores the purpose of your years of study and training at this elite school," Mattis said on Saturday.

The bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena killed 22 people, the youngest an eight-year-old girl, and injured dozens more. Fourteen people have been arrested, with two subsequently released. The bomber, Salman Abedi, was Libyan but may have traveled to Syria.

Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Mattis said: "Our strategy right now is to accelerate the campaign against [Daesh] Isis. It is a threat to all civilized nations. And the bottom line is we are going to move in an accelerated and reinforced manner, throw them on their back foot.

"We have already shifted from attrition tactics, where we shove them from one position to another in Iraq and Syria, to annihilation tactics where we surround them. Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to North Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We're not going to allow them to do so. We're going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

Comments