DEFENSE/MILITARY/SYRIA: “The Defense Department said on Wednesday [6-7-17] that its investigation of the American airstrike on a mosque complex near Aleppo, Syria, in March found that it was legal and appropriate, and that it resulted in one possible civilian casualty, not dozens as human rights groups had asserted.
The Pentagon said a meeting of Al Qaeda members was being held in the structure. But, the Pentagon said, the commanders who ordered the strike were never told, as they should have been, that the structure had a madrasa, or religious school, on one side and a mosque on the other.
Human rights officials disputed the Defense Department investigation findings.
‘We found no evidence to support the allegations that the mosque was a meeting place for members of Al Qaeda in Syria or other armed groups,’ said Sarah Margon, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch. She also criticized the investigation for failing to include interviews with anyone who was on the ground in Al Jinah, the site of the strike, when it happened.”
-Helene Cooper, “U.S. Strike on Syria Mosque Complex Was Legal, Defense Dept. Says,” The New York Times online, June 7, 2017