美国有线新闻 CNN 美军承认空袭摩苏尔 或致上百名平民丧生

 

We're starting with a couple of reports concerning U.S. troops in the Middle East. First, more are serving there. There's been a battle going on for the Iraqi city of Mosul since last October. It's the last stronghold of the ISIS terrorist group in Iraq. American troops have been supporting Iraqi forces as they try to push ISIS out.

Soldiers with U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division are deploying¹ to give more help to the Iraqis. A U.S. defense² official says the number of American troops going is in the low hundreds.

"The Military Times" reports that there are more than 6,000 U.S. troops now serving in Iraq and though they're officially there to advise and assist Iraqi forces, some of the Americans are believed to be close to the fighting if not directly in it.

Another way the U.S. is supporting Iraq in the battle is through airpower. And on March 17th, at least 112 civilians⁴ were apparently⁵ killed by an airstrike. The U.S. military is currently investigating whether it was a U.S. plane that launched the strike in Western Mosul. It's a densely⁶ populated part of the city and an Army lieutenant⁷ general says ISIS was fighting from the position, but that what's not clear if they picked a place where there were civilians to lure⁸ the U.S., or if ISIS was using civilians as human shields. He says the enemy had a hand in the deaths, and that the U.S. military might have, too.

LT. GEN. STEPHEN TOWNSEND, TOP U.S. COMMANDER ON MOSUL STRIKE: If we didn't strike in that area, I'd be telling you right now, it's unlikely.

But because we struck in that area, I think there's a fair chance that we did it. My initial assessment⁹ is that we probably had a role in these casualties. Now, here's what I don't know —what I don't know is: were they gathered there by the enemy?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The destruction here in western Mosul appears to be significantly more vast and widespread than it was in the eastern side. And you also see that there are a lot of these really narrow alleyways that winded deeper into the neighborhoods. This is one of the main challenges that the security forces are facing.

You barely see any civilians but you do see the traces of the life that was, of how bustling¹⁰ these particular areas would have normally been. And part of the challenge when it is civilian³ population is that even though the Iraqi government did, yes, encourage people to stay put in their homes, if they wanted to leave, they wouldn't have been able to, because ISIS would not allow them to leave these neighborhoods. ISIS was holding everyone that live across this entire city as human shields.

1 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

7 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

8 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。