US Frames Syria Airstrikes as ‘Self-Defense’ Despite Happening Amid an Ongoing US-Backed Offensive

Tuesday, the Kurdish SDF launched an offensive against a number of villages in eastern Syria. The US backed the offensive with military action, and al-Mayadeen even suggests that the offensive itself came at the behest of the US military. Today we’re getting some more details, and the US is trying to re-frame the narrative of what actually happened.

It is confirmed that the US launched airstrikes as well as the previously reported artillery fire, which targeted Syrian forces in the area of the offensive. The strikes destroyed multiple trucks with rocket launcher systems on them, and also destroyed a T-64 battle tank.

These strikes were launched specifically while the SDF offensive was ongoing, and targeted forces in the area of the attacks. The Pentagon, however, has tried to present their strikes as “self-defense,” claiming that the presence of the military assets firing in an area so close to US-occupied bases posed a “clear and imminent threat.”