Guardian, last Tuesday:
The first strikes landed just after 2am, directed at sites that Islamic State (Isis) has openly used and that had long been flagged as targets. The jihadis were no longer there though, having blended in with Raqqa’s civilian population, where they knew they would be safer.
I noticed some folks–well, Dr. Turk, of whom I’m a long-time fan–making fun of the allies for blowing up buildings and letting the enemy get away, but it occurred to me that could work as a good, if unconventional idea: Don’t kill people (who include civilians), kill infrastructure. Not the way they did it in old Mr. Rumsfeld’s day, of course, but.
By daybreak, the governorate building, an Isis command post for the past 15 months, a TV station and a Syrian military base had been destroyed. According to several residents who spoke to the Guardian, up to 30 people were killed. Most, if not all, were militants.
But that. They messed up significant parts of the Daesh’s ability to function, but the Guardian couldn’t find any evidence of a civilian getting killed, and they did ask around. That’s not a bad thing.
