More than a dozen U.S.-backed Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish fighters were killed in a series of airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets, two American defense officials confirmed to Fox News. Both officials said there were no U.S. troops among the fighters who were hit. “This is very serious,” said one outraged U.S. official. Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis hosted his Turkish counterpart,
Fikri Isik, at the Pentagon for talks about the upcoming Raqqa offensive in Syria. Both secretaries ignored a question from a reporter about the role Kurds would play in that operation. There are currently about 1,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Syria. In March, 400 Marines deployed to Syria as part of an artillery battery to support U.S.-backed troops fighting around Raqqa. The U.S. Air Force uses a Turkish airbase near the border with Syria to conduct strikes against ISIS. FULL REPORT
