Senior French Officer: US-Led Coalition’s “Tactics against Daesh” in Syria Caused More Civilian Victims, Massive Destruction

PARIS-  A senior French officer serving within the French forces involved in the US-led coalition, which has been claiming that it is fighting Daesh terrorist organization in Syria, is now facing punishment after launching a “scathing attack” on the U.S.-led coalition’s methods to “defeat” the terror group in the Syrian town of Hajin in Deir Ezzor.

Colonel Francois-Regis Legrier, who has been in charge of directing French artillery supporting Kurdish-led groups in Syria since October, said the coalition’s focus had been on limiting its own risks and this had greatly increased the death toll among civilians and the levels of destruction, according to Reuters.

 “By refusing ground engagement against Daesh in Hajin, we unnecessarily prolonged the conflict and thus contributed to increasing the number of casualties in the population,” Legrier wrote in an article in the National Defence Review.

The article was removed from the review’s website on Saturday.

  “We have massively destroyed the infrastructure and given the population a disgusting image of what may be a Western-style liberation leaving behind the seeds of an imminent resurgence of a new adversary,” he said, in rare public criticism by a serving officer.

 The coalition could have got rid of just 2,000 Daesh fighters much more quickly and effectively by sending in just 1,000 troops, he argued.

 “This refusal raises a question: why have an army that we don’t dare use?” he said.

France is one of the main allies in the U.S.-led coalition allegedly fighting Daesh in Syria and Iraq.

Legrier’s article has embarrassed French authorities which are considering punishment against the colonel.

 “A punishment is being considered,” French army spokesman Patrick Steiger said in a text message.

 “We have in no way won the war because we lack a realistic and lasting policy and an adequate strategy,” Legrier said. “How many Hajins will it take to understand that we are on the wrong track?”

Hamda Mustafa