Coalition planes strike mosque used for ISIS command and control

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Despite rhetoric by US President Donald Trump, the fight against ISIS is continuing — evidenced by the destruction of a command center used by the extremists.

Aircraft belonging to the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition "destroyed an ISIS command and control facility in a mosque in Safafiyah," read a coalition statement. 

The city is located in the Middle Euphrates River Valley in the eastern governorate of Deir ez-Zor.

"ISIS continues to violate Law of Armed Conflict and misuse protected structures like hospitals and mosques, which cause a facility to lose its protected status," the statement added.

The news comes as the Syrian Democratic Forces have continued to fight ISIS, despite the US president saying he will withdraw troops. 

France — one of the three dominant supporters of anti-ISIS efforts in Syria in addition to the United States and United Kingdom — has said it will continue its mission to fight radicals in the Levant regardless of Washington.

The head of the SDF Press Office, Mustafa Bali, argued that Turkey should have no input in a much discussed "safe zone" for northern Syria, also known as Rojava by Kurds.

"Turkey wants to be in charge of the safe zone in northern Syria. However, the people of the region demand a safe zone that will protect them from Turkey, not a zone that will expose them Turkey’s brutality more easily," he tweeted late Thursday.

 

 

The SDF is the partnered ground force of the international coalition. It is led by the predominately-Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), but also includes Arab, Christian, Turkmen, Yezidi and other ethno-religious brigades. 

 

Farther north on Wednesday, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted a restaurant in Manbij frequented by the coalition and their local Manbij Military Council partners.

 

Two American soldiers, one defense department official, and a contractor were killed as well as a reported five members of the local forces and at least nine civilians. 

 

It was the deadliest attack on Americans since the coalition deployed nearly four years ago in Syria.