The Pentagon on Thursday sought to downplay a drone strike last week that landed near a convoy containing US troops and the top commander of Syria’s Kurdish-led forces in the fight against the Islamic State (IS).
“On April 7, 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 S. Ryder confirmed during a press briefing.
In his first comments from the podium on the incident since it occurred, Ryder told journalists the strike “was not a near miss” and that it “struck more than 100 meters from the convoy.”
The State Department on Monday confirmed the incident after The Wall Street Journal and Al-Monitor reported that US troops were in convoy with Syrian Kurdish commander Mazlum Kobane when the strike occurred.
