PROF. TIM ANDERSON: On 17 September 2016 a carefully planned US-led air
raid on Jabal al Tharda (Mount Tharda), overlooking Deir Ezzor airport,
slaughtered over 100 Syrian soldiers and delivered control of the
mountain to DAESH / ISIS. After that surprise attack, the terrorist
group held the mountain for almost a year, but did not manage to take
the airport or the entire city. US-led forces admitted the attack but
claimed it was all a ‘mistake’. However uncontested facts, eye witness
accounts and critical circumstances show that was a lie. This article
sets out the evidence of this crime, in context of Washington’s
historical use of mercenaries for covert actions, linked to the doctrine
of ‘plausible deniability’.