"Pentagon's Flawed Claim on Syrian Casualties in Baghdadi Raid Exposed by Files"
Confidential documents obtained by NPR reveal flaws in the Pentagon's claim that deadly airstrikes during the 2019 raid on ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's hideout in Syria did not hit civilians. The documents show that U.S. troops fired warning shots before launching airstrikes on a van carrying Syrian men, undermining the military's assertion that the men demonstrated hostility. The Pentagon provided no evidence that the victims were enemy combatants, and it did not conduct a full formal investigation or contact the survivor. The incident highlights the ongoing struggle of the U.S. military to reduce civilian casualties in military operations.