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U.S. Bombed Syrian Dam in 2017 Despite Warning That Tens of Thousands Could Die

HeadlineJan 21, 2022

The U.S. military bombed a massive Euphrates River dam in Syria in 2017 despite a military report warning such an attack could lead to a flood that would kill tens of thousands of civilians. That’s according to The New York Times, which reports the attack on the 18-story Tabqa Dam led to critical equipment failure, causing a reservoir to rise and prompting panicked evacuations downstream. At the time, the commander of the U.S. offensive dismissed reports that the U.S. was responsible as “crazy reporting.” In fact, the U.S. was responsible, and even selected at least one concrete-penetrating bunker-buster bomb for the attack. A follow-up U.S. airstrike reportedly killed three workers who rushed to the dam to prevent a disaster.

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