The Russians Have Bombed the Offices of an American Aid Organization in Syria

This is the kind of thing that happens when no one is even a little bit afraid of the President of the United States. The Russians have bombed the offices of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an American NGO that is distributing American aid to regions of Syria that have been afflicted by the civil war that is ravaging that country. The aid office was located in an area that is NOT under ISIS control and thus not an area that the Russians should have been bombing at all.

The Russian military is coming under fresh criticism that it bombed a humanitarian field office Saturday in the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib. The claim, by an American advocacy organization, follows previous reports that Russia’s bombing campaign continues to hit territory controlled by Syrian rebel groups not linked to the Islamic State — the ostensible target of Moscow’s months-long military intervention.

In a statement Monday to Foreign Policy, the Syrian Emergency Task Force said Russian planes bombed one of its offices in central Idlib province in a strike that “completely destroyed” the facility and equipment. The staff — which host civil society workshops, helps distribute U.S. humanitarian aid, and documents atrocities — was not present during the incident, and no one was killed, according to SETF.

“This attack on a humanitarian field office and surrounding civilian areas is yet another in a string of despicable violations of international law,” said SETF Executive Director Mouaz Moustafa.

The most infuriating thing about this entire episode is that the United States’ response to this is, basically, “Oh yeah, this kind of crap happens all the time. Nothing we can do about it.”

A Pentagon official could not immediately confirm the accusation but said it was not “unusual or hard to believe.”

“They have struck there in the past,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They fly in Idlib and they don’t use precision weaponry, so the idea that they could hit a non-military target is legitimate.”

Score another win for American foreign policy in Syria.

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