A US Special Operations drone unit carried out an airstrike targeting the 18-storey Syrian Taqba dam located on the Euphrates River, although the key infrastructure object was on a "no-strike" list, The New York Times reported, citing several anonymous sources, including from within Task Force 9 – the unit responsible for the attack.
According to one source, bombs as big as 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) were used in the March 2017 attack, while the dam was still under the control of Daesh* terrorists. The dam was on the no-go list because a US military report showed that its destruction could flood nearby areas causing enormous destruction and widespread civilian fatalities.
"The destruction would have been unimaginable. The number of casualties would have exceeded the number of Syrians who have died throughout the war", an unnamed former director of the dam told the newspaper, on the condition of anonymity.
Carnage was avoided due to a combination of extreme luck and the skill of local engineers, newspaper sources claimed. One bomb, which reportedly did not detonate, was said to have later been safely extracted by workers. What damage occurred was later repaired by local engineers, with warring sides agreeing to a temporary ceasefire to complete the job, the NY Times said.
The US Central Command has not commented on the report, although a spokesperson told the newspaper that US military strikes were limited to operating towers near the dam. The Times' sources disagreed with the assessment, claiming that the dam itself suffered significant damage. The reservoir behind the dam saw a 15-metre water level rise following the strikes, coming close to spilling over, a source told the newspaper.
19 December 2021, 05:34 GMT
American troops are still deployed within Syria, against the wishes of Damascus. The US has carried out airstrikes both against Daesh and Damascus, despite lacking a UN mandate to carry out military operations within the country's borders. The Syrian government and Russia, its chief ally in fighting local terrorist insurgents, have repeatedly condemned Washington's actions and continued military deployments within the nation's territory.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and several other countries