U.S. President Joe Biden ordered last week to attack two targets in Syria in response to a missile attack on a U.S. airbase in Iraq - but canceled one of the attacks at the last minute for fear of harming civilians, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Thirty minutes before the February 26 bombings, and with F-15E fighter jets already in the air, one of Biden's advisers warned that a woman and children were located at one of the targets.
Biden subsequently decided to call off the attack, but ordered to go forward with the attack on the second target near the border with Iraq. According to the report, the assault was preceded by ten days of discussions in the government.