US F-15 fighters, Apache helicopters, heavy artillery and special ops forces took part Thursday, Feb. 8 in the early morning attack against pro-Assad, Hizballah and Shiite forces who were crossing the Euphrates to eastern Syria. DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources report that the US special operations forces posted on the river’s east bank saw a Russian team of military engineers laying a floating bridge across the river 8km north of Deir ez-Zour. Around 500 Syrian commandos, Hizballah and Shiite militiamen, under Iranian command, were sighted about to make the crossing. US jets and helicopters went into action when the crossing began, destroying the bridge. US special operations waiting on the eastern bank wiped out the Syrian allied force as it landed, as well the the bridgehead they had started setting up. US-led coalition spokesmen estimated that up to 100 Syrian and Hizballah fighters lost their lives in the engagement, possibly including some Russians. There were no American casualties. Read the earlier DEBKAfile exclusive report on the two fronts opened up by US special operations forces in Syria.
@Edgar G.
In fact, I just googled: Camera.org Debka and all I found was a piece where Camera praises Debka:
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2017/07/israel_dismantles_security_mea.html
@ Edgar G.:
I asked for examples. They seem reliable to me but I have an open mind. I know of no examples where they were shown to be exaggerating or even partially wrong. Unlike all the mainstream news publications CAMERA is always forcing to make retractions for their shoddy reporting. Am I just supposed to take somebody’s word for it that Debka is not a reliable news source?
e.g., “Must be from Pocs?”
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Debka is sometimes wrong, or exaggerated, but often right. I’ve been reading their reports for years and very seldom found them completely wrong.. Certain very critical people are around who, if it goes wrong one time, for them it always goes wrong…
@ mrg3105:
As with Wikipedia, I’ve been hearing people say that Debka is unreliable for years but I’ve never seen any examples cited. I also googled the question and nothing came up. Could you please provide some instances in which Debka mis-reported?
In this case, I googled: US bombs Euphrates bridge and Reuters among others corroborated it.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-bridges/syria-slams-u-s-coalition-for-destruction-of-bridges-in-east-idUSKCN11Z2PK
@ mrg3105:
There\s nothing in the report which says they couldn’t do it , only that the Russians who were there did it. The important part of the report is that the US directly opposed troops in which were Russians, some of whom were possibly killed and the results… Perhaps their first casualties deliberately caused by the US, which is “showing it’s teeth”, and that the river must not be crossed against the agreement. . Possibly a preliminary “feeler”
@ mrg3105:
There\s nothing in the report which says they couldn’t do it , only that the Russians who were there did it. The important part of the report is that the US directly opposed troops in which were Russians, and the results….
DEBKAfile is so unreliable, it is no better an authority than any British tabloid.
Syrians have operated Soviet bridging equipment for decades, so wouldn’t need Russian engineers to do it for them. Pontoon bridges are not rocket science.