[VIDEO] Helmet Cam Footage of ISIS Raid By US SpecOps, Which Led To First US Casualty In Syria

The US has engaged in over a year of… doing something to ISIS in Syria. Video evidence showing exactly what they’ve been doing has been fairly scarce, however, at least compared to the sheer plethora of videos that the Russians have released showing their bombing of ISIS positions.

Not to be outdone, the US military has released footage of what they claim is a hostage rescue operation, via go-pro camera attached to the helmet of a soldier.

The Kurdish soldiers had already been attempting to free what they believed were Kurdish prisoners, hours away from execution by ISIS forces which had already dug their graves. The US would step in as “advisers” to assist them.

Most of the 69… no comment… hostages were Arabs, and not Kurdish as the Kurdish soldiers had earlier believed. The hostages consisted of a mixture of local residents, ISIS fighters suspected of being spies and some 20 members of the Iraqi security forces.

From AP:

“Some of the remainder were Daesh (Islamic State) … fighters that Daesh thought were spies,” the [US] official said. “The rest of them were citizens of the local town”.

20 ISIS fighters were killed and 6 captured. One US soldier was killed, Joshua Wheeler, the first American casualty since the beginning of this conflict.

“Dozens” of U.S. troops were involved in the mission, a U.S. defense official said, declining to be more specific about the number.

“It was a deliberately planned operation, but it was also done with the knowledge that imminent action was needed to save the lives of these people,” the U.S. defense official said.

The U.S. soldier fatally wounded in a hostage rescue mission in Iraq heroically inserted himself into a firefight to defend Kurdish soldiers, even though the plan called for the Kurds to do the fighting, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.

In one sentence, Carter calls the fallen soldier a hero and a fool. He must be fuming that the soldier did not leave the fighting (and hence dying) to the Kurdish soldiers whose deaths would have hardly raised an eyebrow- a blow to claims that there were  no boots on the ground, and only “advisers”. A reporter even asks Carter as much in the AP video. Carter just brushed it off as “the kind of thing Americans do”.

The footage does not show the incident that had led to the death of Wheeler. It shows US soldiers escorting dozens of men who appear to be escaping from a burning room. The sound of gunshots can apparently be heard in the background- no combat is witnessed in the frame. The video flashes to a room with an ISIS flag. The focus is on US soldiers rescuing hostages, as no Kurdish fighters are shown throughout. So, were there “boots on the ground” and American-hostage-rescuing heroes? Or were there “no boots on the ground” and American advisers taking credit for a Kurdish-fought and led operation?

The footage appears to be aimed at proving that the US is also acting against ISIS; this first death of an American soldier in this conflict is tragic, particularly when one considers who had been “accidentally” supplying ISIS to begin with, and particularly if the purpose of this sudden action was intended solely as a PR stunt aimed at trumping the Russian PR stunt.

Sources: Zero Hedge, Millitary

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