Staff ‘could not risk’ American lives, says US military source
US military staff, stationed at a secret location in the Middle East, were “outraged” after a Turkish liaison officer stepped in and announced a massive airstrike would be launched in Iraq in 10 minutes and that “allied jets” needed to head south right away, says an American military source.
"We could not risk having US forces hit by Turkish bombs,” the unnamed military official told Fox News earlier this week.
After a late July bomb attack in a Turkish town, Ankara launched airstrikes against ISIL in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq.
US military leaders were “surprised” by Turkey’s move on July 24, according to Fox News, quoting “a military source with knowledge of the tension” it caused at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC).
"A Turkish officer came into the CAOC, and announced that the strike would begin in 10 minutes and he needed all allied jets flying above Iraq to move south of Mosul immediately,” said the source. "We were outraged."
“We had US Special Forces not far from where the Turks were bombing, training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters,” said the source.” We had no idea who the Turkish fighters were, their call signs, what frequencies they were using, their altitude or what they were squawking [to identify the jets on radar].”
The Turkish officer appeared the next day to inform Turkey’s NATO ally of yet another airstrike, but was sent away, with authorities demanding specific plans for the attacks.
“If one of our guys got hit, the Turks would blame us. We gave the Turks large grids to avoid bombing,” said the source.
Syria and Iraq turned into a haven for Takfiri terrorists to come together as Daesh after infiltrating into the countries through Turkey and Jordan.
Washington, which has been engaged in airstrikes against Daesh, is attempting to create a so-called safe zone with the help of Turkey on the border with Syria
Turkey, however, has been accused of using war on the ISIL terrorists as a pretext to batter the PKK.
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