What Did America Bomb In Maxmur?

(ANF) The truth about the American airstrikes against the Islamıc State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) in Maxmur is emerging. According to numerous sources on the ground no airstrikes strikes were carried yesterday afternoon as fighters from the Maxmur Defense Forces fought to retake Maxmur, while those American strikes carried out later in the evening took place in an empty area from which ISIS had already withdrew.

The Maxmur Defense Forces began an operation to retake Maxmur from ISIS early yesterday morning. Advancing through the village of Gewer amid heavy fighting, they were successful in recapturıng Maxur and its surrounding villages and clearing them of ISIS fighters by late afternoon.

An official news release from the Maxmur Defense Forces, who are composed of HPG-YJA Star guerrillas, peşmerges and local militias, informed reporters that US planes had struck ISIS positions in Maxmur, claiming in the morning that “F/A-18 fighters jets had launched pinpoint strikes on ISIS militants and vehicles with laser-guided bombs”  while also claiming in the evening that further strikes had been carried out against ISIS tanks and armored cars. Moreover it was claimed that such strikes had been carried out in coordination with peşmerge and guerilla forces.

However according to ANF’s correspondent in Maxmur and information obtained from guerilla and peşmerge forces on the ground, these reports did not reflect the truth of the events.

‘They Bombed Empty Areas’

Guerilla and peşmerge fighters taking part in the push to retake Gewer said that no American airstrikes were carried out in the course of the operation. They also said that they received no warnings about any strikes nor were they coordinating with American military operatives.

OInstead they alleged that strikes which took place in the evening, while close to ISIS tank and armored vehicle positions, were directed against empty areas from which ISIS had been forced to withdraw earlier in the day. They went on to add that strikes against empty regions after the defense forces had already liberated the area were meaningless.

Airstrikes in Sinjar

The picture in Sinjar, however, is reported to be different. According to the ANF correspondent in Sinjar (Kurdish: Şengal) two separate airstrikes were carried out in the region yesterday. According to this report strikes took place yesterday morning and evening against ISIS positions to both the north and south of the Sinjar town center. A large number of ISIS heavy weapons are thought to have been destroyed while clear casualty figures remain lacking.