U.S. Military Investigating Reports of Civilian Deaths in Syria Airstrike<br />By HELENE COOPERMARCH 21, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — The United States military has begun formally investigating an American airstrike in Syria<br />that officials said targeted dozens of Qaeda operatives at a meeting place that activists and local residents maintain was part of a religious complex where 49 civilians were killed.<br />United States Central Command has begun two investigations: one to determine whether there is credible evidence<br />that civilians were killed in the strike, and another, broader inquiry into the overall operation and whether the building hit was indeed part of a complex belonging to the Omar ibn al-Khatab mosque.<br />Residents have described the building as an assembly hall and dining area for worshipers who gathered for religious lessons, and have produced photographs taken at the site after the strike<br />that show a black sign outside a still-standing adjoining structure that identifies it as part of the Omar ibn al-Khatab mosque.<br />The broader investigation, he said — called a 15-6 in military parlance — will seek to clarify the purpose of the building<br />that was bombed, as well as whether it was used by people other than members of Al Qaeda.<br />Defense officials had acknowledged that the building hit in the March 16 airstrike was near a mosque,<br />but they called it an "Al Qaeda meeting site" in Al Jinah, in Aleppo Province.<br />Military officials said intelligence had indicated<br />that Al Qaeda used the partially constructed community meeting hall as a gathering site and as a place to educate and indoctrinate fighters.
