Air and Artillery Strikes Hit ISIL Targets in Syria,Iraq

Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve continued to strike the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on 3 January in both Syria and Iraq,a news release said.In Syria,among the 21 strikes by attack,bomber,fighter and remotely piloted aircraft on the Islamist extremists were:
Near Shedaddi,three strikes destroyed a vehicle bomb;a vehicle bomb storage facility and a fighting position;and damaged a repeater box and a communications tower.
Near Raqqah,seven strikes destroyed a vehicle bomb;a vehicle bomb storage facility;a weapons cache and 11 fighting positions;and suppressed a tactical unit.*
In Iraq,among the six strikes by attack,bomber,fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted with and in support of Iraq's government on the ISIL militants were:
Near Hawayjah,two strikes destroyed a pickup truck and vehicle bomb storage facility.
Near Mosul,three strikes destroyed two mortars;a tactical vehicle and two command and control nodes;damaged two supply routes and suppressed nine mortar teams and a tactical unit.*
Those who have conducted strikes in Iraq include the US;Australia;Belgium;Canada;Denmark;France;Jordan;the Netherlands;and the UK.
Those who have conducted strikes in Syria include the US;Australia;Bahrain;Canada;France;Jordan;the Netherlands;Saudi Arabia;Turkey;the UAE;and the UK.

Extremists in Decline:Pentagon Cites Losses by ISIL,al-Qaida

The tide is turning against the Islamist extremists of ISIL and al-Qaida,according to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook,who briefed reporters on 19 December 2016.Over the weekend,the Libyan Government of National Accord announced the successful conclusion of the campaign to liberate the city of Sirte from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant,Mr.Cook noted.It was the only city outside of Iraq and Syria under ISIL's control.US Africa Command carried out this mission with particular skill,especially limiting the risk of civilian casualties in carrying out airstrikes in Sirte,Mr.Cook pointed out.We will continue to keep a close eye on the remnants of ISIL in Libya and will continue to assist the GNA as appropriate going forward.*
In Iraq,Mr.Cook said,the Iraqi Security Forces continue to degrade ISIL in Mosul,where the ISF has cleared approximately 20% of the city.
In Syria,the Syrian Democratic Forces rebel group have reached the Euphrates River northwest of the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa,which is important as the SDF try to isolate ISIL within Raqqa.Importantly,the SDF is continuing to attract Arab fighters for continuing the fight against ISIL.*
And finally,on the progress of counterterrorism in Afghansitan,we previously announced on October 23 that a precision airstrike near Kunar,Afghanistan killed Faruq al-Qatani,the al-Qaida emir for Eastern Afghanistan.The Department has now determined that the same airstrike killed two additional senior al-Qaida leaders:Bilal al-Utaybi,who was al-Qatani's deputy;and Abd al-Wahd al-Junabi,a senior al-Qaida explosives expert.All three were actively involved in the planning and carrying out of acts of terror inside and outside Afghanistan.The deaths of these three senior leaders will significantly disrupt the group's ability to threaten the US,our interests and our allies,and highlights our continuing commitment to the counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan.This strike is further evidence that those who seek to do us harm are not beyond our reach,Peter Cook concluded at the Pentagon on Monday.

SecDef Carter Says More Troops Headed for Iraq - effort to liberate Mosul

On 28 September 2016,US Defense Secretary Ash Carter issued a statement on additional support for the anti-ISIL Operation Inherent Resolve:
In anticipation of the Mosul fight,the United States and the government of Iraq have agreed that additional US and coalition capabilities could help accelerate the campaign at this critical phase.At the request of myself and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dunford,and with the support and approval of Prime Minister Abadi,President Obama has authorised approximately 600 additional US troops to further enable Iraqi forces.The troops,in close coordination with the government of Iraq,will provide specific capabilities including logistics and maintenance support;train,advise and assist teams for ISF and Kurdish Peshmerga for the upcoming Mosul operation;and expanded intelligence resources to help disrupt ISIL'S terrorist network in Iraq and beyond.
The US will continue to stay in close contact with our Iraqi partners as efforts to retake Mosul progress,including the role that the international coalition can continue to play in helping the Iraqi government defeat ISIL.*
For example,On 23 September,US Army Lieutenant General Stephen J. Townsend,commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve,visited Task Force Strike,101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Qayyarah West Airfield,Iraq.Soldiers with the Army's 320th Field Artillery Regiment have been supporting Iraqi Security Forces by executing fire missions against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant militants with such weapons as the M777 Howitzer.The HiMARS artillery rocket system has also been used by US troops against ISIL in both Iraq and Syria.

Operation Inherent Resolve:More Combat Power for the Iraq Campaign

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford,US Marine Corps,recently briefed reporters on the anti-ISIL Operation Inherent Resolve at the Pentagon.This comes as the Pentagon seeks more US troops for Iraq,possibly including Apache helicopter units and more Special Operations Forces.*
We continue to do more and more,said Mr.Carter.We are systematically eliminating the ISIL cabinet,including Haji Iman,who was their finance minister and a veteran of their precursor organisation,al-Qaida in Iraq.This is the second minister this month we've taken out,after their minister of war.We've taken out the leader who oversees the funding of ISIL operations.
Iraqi Security Forces have moved from their staging base at Makhmur.The US Marines are now providing artillery at the request of the Iraqis to help support the ISF advance against the enemy and protect their forces,so in both Syria and Iraq,we are seeing important steps to shape what will be crucial battles in the months to come.The US military will continue to work intensively with our coalition partners to build on this progress as our counterparts throughout our governments work to defend our homelands at the same time.
We're not going to go into any further details about how our coalition conducted the operations I mentioned earlier.These leaders have been around for a long time.They are senior;they are experienced,Mr.Carter explained.Note:SOFs were reportedly used to take out Haji Iman.*
We are facilitating ISF in staging around Mosul to begin to isolate Mosul and,as the Iraqis have announced,that has begun,said General Joseph Dunford.These Marines that were there near Makhmour,their artillery battery that was there,were in direct support of that.We put the battery there to support the Americans that were there advising the ISF and also to be in a position to provide support to the ISF.From my perspective,this is no different from aviation fires that we have been delivering.This is surface fires;they're artillery,but certainly no different conceptually than the fire support we've been providing to the Iraqis all along.And with regard to accelerants,the Secretary and I do expect that there will be increased capabilities provided to the Iraqis to set the conditions for their operations in Mosul.And those decisions haven't been made yet,but we certainly do expect more of the things that we saw in Ramadi-albeit a bit different,tailored for operations in Mosul;but again,the primary force fighting in Mosul will be the ISF,and we'll be in a position to provide advise,assist and enabling capabilities to make them successful.
We've had surface fires in Al Asad and other places,and we've used them in the past,so this is not a fundamental shift in our approach to support the ISF.This happened to be the most appropriate tool that the commander assessed needed to be in that location,General Dunford added.*
This is our approach to eliminating ISIL.The ISF are the ones who are carrying out the assault,the envelopment and assault,but we're helping them.That's been our approach and we'll continue to do that.It started in Ramadi;we'll continue going up to Mosul,Mr.Carter emphasised.*
We have a series of recommendations that we will be discussing with the President in the coming weeks to further enable our support with the ISF,so again the Secretary and I both believe there will be an increase to the US forces in Iraq in the coming weeks,but that decision hasn't been made,General Dunford said.What is it that we need to do to maintain the momentum of the campaign,and what is it that specifically we need to do to enable the operations in Mosul? the Joint Chiefs Chairman asked.
I think it's indisputable,whether we're talking about the amount of ground they control,their command and control-I think we've affected that in a key way;but there's a lot that remains to be done.While ISIL hasn't been seizing ground in recent months,they continue to conduct terrorist attacks and guerilla attacks.I think the momentum is in our favour.I think there's a lot of reasons for us to be optimistic about the next several months,but by no means would I say we're about to break the back of ISIL or that the fight is over,General Dunford cautioned.

War On ISIL Update,Part 2 - From Raqqa To Mosul

Last week Colonel Steve Warren,US Army,spokesman for Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve,gave reporters a briefing on the progress of the anti-ISIL effort.We have not seen ISIL move forces out of Raqqa,Syria,he said.I'm not going to get into the leadership.This isn't the right place for that.*
Sinjar,Iraq is liberated.The PKK Kurds are now clearing IEDs and booby-traps ISIL left behind.The severing of strategic Highway 47 that runs from Raqqa to Mosul by the Kurdish forces will force ISIL to go through rat lines and smuggling routes through the desert.Whereas before it took them hours,now it will take them days.They are less able to mutually reinforce their own positions.
ISIL is under pressure in Iraq and Syria,from the north to the south,primarily from ground forces.They are forced to make very difficult decisions and not help other places of its organisation.When they move,they pop up and become very easy targets for our air power.
As targets are destroyed,others will emerge.If repaired,we will re-attack.The French targets in Raqqa were part of the process.Every nation receives these targets from the coalition.*
The northern access to Ramadi,capital of Anbar Province,Iraq,has met with some pretty stiff resistance.It's slow and incremental work.We believe all the pieces are in place.We believe the Iraqis have a plan that's workable.We believe it's time to execute it.The enemy has put in some fairly complex obstacles.We provided some very substantial airpower,some complex equipment and training to help,Colonel Warren pointed out.

Combating ISIL:Where It Stands Now

We are providing the Syrian Kurds with a tremendous amount of air support,said General Lloyd Austin,Commander of US Central Command,at a hearing before the Senate Armed Forces Committee on 16 September.A portion of this element held on in Kobani.They've increased their size and activity and made a significant difference in the Northeast, with the help of the sustained airstrikes they requested.They will also need to partner with the Syrian Arabs in the neighbourhood,and we're helping them with that.
Turkey has shortened the lengths our fighter pilots are forced to fly.They are focused on ISIL elements in Syria,and we have asked them to tighten up their borders to stop the flow of foreign fighters.We will provide air support to our trained fighters and intelligence,surveillance and reconnaissance over-watch,and have already done so with our first class of trained fighters.We have undertaken airstrikes for trained Syrians under threat by al-Nusra.What our special operations forces have done in Northern Syria is,they began to train elements like the YPG Kurds.There are ten of thousands of Kurds on the battlefield fighting ISIL.*
Only four or five of our first class of moderate Syrian fighters are in combat now,explained Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth.The others were captured by ISIL or fled from them.Immediately they entered Syria,they were attacked by ISIL.
Note:soon after the hearing,a second class of 75 US-trained Syrian fighters graduated.*
The assessment right now is,the Assad regime is not in immanent danger of falling.We're going to make sure we have the ability to protect ourselves at all times,General Austin added.
1.We remain vigilant.
2.We work in the battlespace in such a way that we avoid conflicted zones as much as possible.
3.We routinely use all of our ISR assets before we use weapons.
4.Our joint tactical air controllers are in the command and control centres.They have visibility of what's going on in the target area and visibility of where the friendly troops are.*
ISIL is a transnational threat,and if left unchecked,it will continue to expand and occupy territory,erase international boundaries and export terror to other parts of the world-and in particular,to places like our homeland.We see the beginning of this in the lone wolf phenomenon,and the threat will continue to increase.
Assad is losing capability every day.The wild card is,if Iran or Russia move in and shore him up,that would extend things for a period of time.We continue to look at what the possibilities for encounters with the Russians are.The Russians have not started operations as of this point.Our pilots have to have certainty that there are ISIL targets that can be engaged.We can see the targets,so that is not an issue.*
In Iraq,we're going to need a greater commitment from the partners we're enabling.I think they want Mosul back;they want to stabilise Anbar first,and then take back Mosul.*
Iraq is starting to open the pipelines as to which units will be trained,said Ms.Wormuth.They are starting to plan for this.There are now 4,000 Sunni fighters in Anbar that weren't there six months ago.*
Our airpower is supporting the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian Arabs who are with them.They are not enough to counter ISIL alone.ISIL has made a net gain in personnel over the past 24-36 months,General Austin told the Committee;but they have less money.

ISIL Defeated In Tirkrit

After a month-long battle,the Iraqi army has retaken the city of Tikrit.With the help of the US-led coalition's air strikes and various militia groups,a major blow has been dealt the ISIL militants.The win is also seen as a significant validation of the ground combat forces' ability to recapture ISIL's biggest gain so far in Iraq,the country's second largest city,Mosul.
Tikrit was heavily booby-trapped by the Islamist extremist group ISIL,whom many Arabs and their friends call Daesh.Many of the abandoned buildings were rigged with explosives.A few pockets of resistance remain,firing potshots now and then.Few civilians have stayed in the war-blasted streets of Tikrit,however,the hometown of the late dictator Saddam Hussein.
At the same time,ISIL has stormed a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus,the Yarmouk camp,having fought with a Palestinian faction in the camp.The ISIL militants reportedly now have control of nearly all of the camp,which is home to some 18,000 Palestinian refugees.It is their most serious incursion into Damascus to this point.