Two members of the US-led coalition in Syria — an American and a Briton — were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, US and British officials said on Friday.
Five other coalition service personnel were wounded, the US Department of Defense said.
The attack in Manbij happened late on Thursday — the day US President Donald Trump said he would pull forces out of Syria “very soon.”
“Two coalition personnel were killed and five were wounded by an improvised explosive device in Syria” at about midnight, the coalition said in a statement that gave no further details about the victims.
EMBEDDED
A Pentagon official, speaking later on condition of anonymity, identified one of them as being American.
The British Ministry of Defence confirmed that the second fatality came from within its ranks.
“The individual was embedded with US forces on a counter-Daesh operation when the incident occurred,” the ministry said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group.
Since 2014, the coalition has provided weapons, training and other support to forces fighting IS militants in Syria and Iraq.
The incident brings the number of US personnel killed in action during operations in Syria to 14.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The US-led coalition said it was withholding details on the circumstances of the attack pending further investigation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the attack hit a convoy in the heart of Manbij, also wounding four members of the local council.
RECONQUERED
Manbij used to be a hub for IS militants when their self-styled “caliphate” was at its peak. It was retaken by Kurdish-led forces backed by the coalition.
Located between the northern city of Aleppo and the western bank of the Euphrates, less than 30km south of the Turkish border, Manbij lies where several international influence zones meet and risks becoming a new flashpoint.
“We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now,” Trump told industrial workers in Ohio on Thursday.
The US has more than 2,000 military personnel in eastern Syria, working with local militia to defeat IS while trying to keep themselves out of Syria’s broader civil war.
Trump’s eagerness to quit the conflict contrasts with the US’ Syria strategy announced in January by then-US secretary of state Rex Tillerson — who has since been sacked.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met a delegation from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and Kurdish official Asya Abdullah said afterwards that France was planning to send “new French troops to Manbij.”
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS