Pentagon official lessens drone strike targeting SDF commander
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The US Department of Defense lessened on Thursday the drone strike that targeted Mazloum Abdi, Commander in Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), near Sulaymaniyah International Airport in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
On April 7, a convoy included Mazloum Abdi, forces of the Sulaymaniyah-headquartered Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG), and personnel of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS were targeted by a drone strike on the perimeter of Sulaymaniyah International Airport.
“A convoy including US personnel was fired upon while in transit within the Iraqi Kurdistan region in the area near Sulaymaniyah,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Abdi was there to meet with Coalition officers and members of the KRI’s and Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces, he said in an exclusive meeting with North Press.
“There were no casualties; that the strike was not a near-miss,” Ryder noted. “It struck more than 100 meters from the convoy.”
Al-Monitor, as US-based news website focused on the Middle East, published an in-depth piece on Friday, followed by an interview with Abdi himself a day later. In the latter article, Abdi clearly pointed towards Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the culprit, arguing that he is “constantly seizing any opportunity to strike at our partnership with the international coalition led by America.”