Free Republic

U.S. military pilots who have returned from the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq are confirming that they were blocked from dropping 75 percent of their ordnance on terror targets because they could not get clearance to launch a strike, according to a leading member of Congress.Strikes against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) targets are often blocked due to an Obama administration policy to prevent civilian deaths and collateral damage, according to Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.The policy is being blamed for allowing Islamic State militants to gain...

Given that the “moderates” are our allies, you would think this problem could be avoided by coordinating with them on where to attack and where not to. But there’s a hitch: We … don’t trust them enough to rely on the intelligence they give us.You’d trust a group that’s fighting so closely alongside Al Qaeda (a.k.a. the Nusra Front) that bombing the latter means collateral damage for the former, wouldn’t you? Since U.S. airstrikes against ISIS in Syria began on Sept. 22, there has been no coordination between the U.S. military and its alleged partners on the ground, according...

Islamic State militants in western Iraq. Photo: ISIS video ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Large numbers of Islamic State (IS) militants withdrew from Shingal region on Monday and headed to the Syrian border, Kurdish Peshmerga forces told Rudaw. “Around sunset a convoy of about 30 IS vehicles left the area and drove towards the Syrian border,” said Haji Ibrahim, a veteran Yezidi Peshmerga. Ibrahim said that the IS militants were holding their front lines against the Peshmerga forces until Monday. Ibrahim said that the IS positions around Shingal have been the target of intense US airstrikes in the past few weeks. IS...

The White House says it wants to work with Syria’s moderate rebels. But warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition came awfully close to striking one of their HQs. Last week, an airstrike from the American-led coalition nearly hit a command-and-control facility affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, the moderate rebels the Obama administration says are America’s “boots on the ground,” according to two opposition leaders. They are asking the Obama administration to please coordinate with them in the future before America bombs its only allies in Syria. Since U.S. airstrikes against ISIS in Syria began on Sept. 22, there has been...

U.S.-led air strikes hit grain silos and other targets in Islamic State-controlled territory in northern and eastern Syria overnight, killing civilians and wounding militants, a group monitoring the war said on Monday. The aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij for an Islamic State base, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There was no immediate comment from Washington. The United States has targeted Islamic State and other fighters in Syria since last week with the help of Arab allies, and in Iraq since last month. It aims to...

In a guest appearance on Hannity last night Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a Fox News analyst, made an epic rant regarding Obama’s much heralded air campaign against terrorist targets in Syria. He observed the massive bombardment by American military planes and missiles committed one very critical flaw: they occurred at night. “In the euphoria, the delight of seeing all these cruise missiles taking off and dramatic footage, all the analysts are missing one really big thing: these strikes last night were designed to limit terrorist casualties; these were not serious, manful strikes,” said Peters. “I’ll give you the evidence. Why...

U.S. and coalition warplanes pounded ISIS positions in eastern Syria on Wednesday, targeting what a Pentagon official described as mobile oil refineries being used by the so-called Islamic State terror group.

President Barack Obama dismissed the F-22 fighter jets used during Monday’s airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria as “outdated and unnecessary” in a speech on July 21, 2009. “I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense projects to keep this nation secure” Obama said. "That's why I'm grateful that the Senate just voted against an additional $1.75 billion to buy F-22 fighter jets that military experts and members of both parties say we do not need.” ...more (w/video)...

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday he supports any international effort against terrorism, apparently trying to position his government on the side of the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State group. Damascus said the U.S. informed it beforehand that the strikes were coming.SnipThe United States has ruled out any coordination with Assad's government.

A brief but important follow-up to Ed’s item this morning. You probably don’t recognize the name in the headline; until recently, I didn’t either. In fact, the name of the Khorasan Group itself wasn’t leaked to the media until last week, although James Clapper had alluded months ago to unnamed AQ operatives inside Syria wanting to hit the U.S. from afar.Turns out al-Fadhli has been on U.S. intel’s radar for a loooong time, though. And now he’s dead — maybe. Among the Al Nusrah Front positions targeted in the bombings are locations where members of the so-called “Khorasan group”...

“For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside,” Barack Obama said in a written statement in August, 2011. The statement came following reports that indicated Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was involved in a bloody crackdown on protesters who rose up amid the Arab Spring revolutions. Two years later, Obama was marshalling support for air strikes against forces loyal to Assad. Though the administration had ruled out “regime change” through military force, toppling Assad was the goal nevertheless. The United States was responding to the clear evidence that Damascus had used chemical...

"But, may I add, the training also will service these troops in the same struggle that they've been in since the beginning of this conflict against the Assad regime"

(CNN) -- [Breaking news update 6:44 a.m. ET] The Khorasan Group, which the U.S. military struck overnight in Syria, was actively plotting against a U.S. homeland target and Western targets, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. The threat was "imminent," the source said. The U.S. military also struck ISIS targets in Syria. The United States "had very good information" about the threat from the Khorasan Group, the source said. The U.S. strikes against the group were planned in advance, not at the last minute, the official said. Khorasan operatives were coming closer to the "end of their planning," the official...

Step Agency News in Syria posts this video purportedly of the first U.S. airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Raqqa, Syria.

...Obama will make a statement this morning at 10:00 am ET on the South Lawn. I will live stream it here.

merican airstrikes against ISIS targets are under way in Syria, according to a Pentagon official. "I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL [ISIS] terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles," Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said. "Given that these operations are ongoing, we are not in a position to provide additional details at this time. The decision to conduct theses strikes was made earlier today by the U.S. Central Command commander under authorization granted him by the commander in chief. We will...

<p>Weapons procurement showed striking reductions from last year’s plans. Then, the Navy planned to buy 980 Tactical Tomahawks, the primary cruise missile in use throughout the fleet. The new plan shows only 100 missiles in 2015 and none thereafter.</p> <p>The reduction reflects shifting investment to a new next-generation land attack weapon, said Lt. Caroline Hutcheson, a Navy spokeswoman at the Pentagon, who also noted that the current inventory of Block IV Tactical Tomahawks exceeds combat requirements. A recertification line for existing missiles will be established to retain effectiveness of current TacToms, she added.</p>

No link now, they are just announcing it now.

The National Security Advisor of the United States did something astonishing yesterday. In the middle of a reporter’s questioning, she bolted from the podium of the White House pressroom, saying, “Nice to see you,” fleeing a situation she evidently was unable to cope with. The question that caused Ms. Rice to flee was a fairly simple one: whether or not the president has authorized the bombing of targets in Syria. Rice responded multiple times that the timing of strikes would not be released, but that was not the question at hand, and reporters pressed her on whether her boss had...

he U.S. military campaign against Islamist militants in Syria is being designed to allow President Barack Obama to exert a high degree of personal control, going so far as to require that the military obtain presidential sign-off for strikes in Syrian territory, officials said. The requirements for strikes in Syria against the extremist group Islamic State will be far more stringent than those targeting it in Iraq, at least at first. U.S. officials say it’s an attempt to limit the threat the U.S. could be dragged more deeply into the Syrian civil war.