US,Jordan Prepare for Regional Crisis with Desert Drills

As part of the annual US Central Command-Jordanian Exercise Eager Lion,US and Jordanian Marines,as well as Italian soldiers,trained in the Jordanian desert last week.Jordan has been the most active Middle Eastern member of the anti-ISIL Operation Inherent Resolve.Last year,its pilots flew more missions against ISIL in Iraq and Syria than all the other Middle Eastern members combined,so it is evident why these bilateral military drills are so critical to both countries.They believe they must be able to respond effectively to a regional security crisis together.*
Every other year,Eager Lion is open to substantial multilateral participation.In 2015,19 countries participated;and even more are anticipated next year.*
On 18 May,the troops,who are Joint Tactical Air Controllers and Joint Forward Observers,assembled on a desert hilltop under the scenario of gathering data to provide to aircraft and artillery,so that 30,000 pounds of explosives could be dropped on an enemy column of armoured vehicles preparatory to an infantry assault.*
The US Marine JTACs from Kilo Company,Battalion Landing Team,3rd Battalion 6th Marine Regiment,24th Marine Expeditionary Unit,trained with their allies for two weeks to gain familiarity with each others' tactics and procedures.These Fire Support Teams,or FiSTs,mitigate the enemy advantages by directing fire from artillery,naval guns and aircraft.They shape the battlefield,destroying and neutralising targets so the ground unit can move,said 1st Lieutenant Bryan C. McDonald,Fire Support Officer with Kilo Company.He praised his Jordanian and Italian allies as being efficient.*
In this case,the fire support came from 2 US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers and AH-64 Apache helicopters,along with 2 sections of Royal Jordanian F-16s and AH-1 Cobras,besides mortars.The mortars were used first.
The FiST marks targets with ground-based lasers,infrared lasers or smoke rounds so aircraft can identify them easily.*
Exercise Eager Lion 2016 ran from 15-24 May.The scenarios simulated a coordinated,partnered military response to conventional and unconventional threats,including chemical,biological and nuclear.Six thousand troops-three thousand each from the US and Jordan-participated this year.Eager Lion is the largest exercise US Central Command participates in.
General Joseph L. Votel,US Army,is US CENTCOM Commander.Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve,under the command of Lieutenant General Sean McFarland,US Army,is a subordinate command under US CENTCOM.*
The 24th MEU is currently embarked on ships of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group,which has been deployed to maintain regional security in the US 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.

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.