Not trying to cut Brandon and the Psack any slack here, but assuming (yeah, I know) them guys on the ground in Syria would never lie to ya' is fringe, eh?
I'm going with the option that calling Brandon and the Psack liars is better optics than 'fessing up that your particular culture is OK with promoting taking one for the team with women and children when you can use that to ran a narrative against their enemies.
Anyway, not that I'm an expert, but how do you determine, just by taking a quick look, that it is has to be heavy caliber gunfire and not shrapnel from a bomb?