The Gloves Are Coming Off in the U.S. War Against the Islamic State’s Oil

Yahoo ^ | 16 NOV 2015 | Paul McLeary

[thackney]

American military officials have come to the conclusion that the U.S.-led air campaign targeting Syria’s oil infrastructure — which has provided the Islamic State with hundreds of millions of dollars over the past two years — has been too cautious. A new offensive aims to change that.

Officials would not say if the rules of engagement for the U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, have changed to allow for a new and more aggressive round of strikes. But there was little doubt that the U.S. aerial assault that tore through 116 ISIS oil tankers parked near an Iraqi border crossing Sunday night signaled that the militant group’s financial infrastructure was now squarely in American crosshairs.

In the early days of the campaign last September, American officials made a point to say that the Islamic State’s mobile oil drilling assets were high on the target list, but a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday that the coalition has actually been trying to spare some of Syria’s largest oil producing facilities.

The coalition has been conscious of the “degree of damage we want to do to these things, recognizing that they remain the property of the Syrian people,” said Capt. Jeff Davis. But as the war has dragged on, and ISIS continues to pull in anywhere from $1 to $2 million a day from its black market oil smuggling operations, that thinking appears to have changed. As well-supplied ISIS fighters stubbornly hold out in cities like Raqqa, Mosul, Fallujah, and Ramadi, and the group begins to conduct operations as far away as Egypt, Afghanistan, and Paris, military planners have decided to expand their target lists. “We have gone after them more aggressively,” Davis said.

This month, the coalition has launched over a dozen airstrikes...

[rdcbn]

Too cautious?

Try non existent ?

Putin has forced Obama’s hand and threatens to expose how Obama has done virtually nothing to fight ISIS over the last two years

[equaviator]

1,000 well-placed "Daisy Cutters" should be a damned good start.





Why this is not obvious to our military and C-I-C, I have no idea!

[ilgipper]

The answer to everything Obama does now needs to be a simple. ‘A year later than it needed to happen. tens of thousands have been murdered because of it.”

[Don Corleone]

How will Obama justify this with his Muslim masters?

[TexasFreeper2009]

Obama wont be on the ballot in 2016, so they have to start pretending again.

[rdcbn]

It's better than nothing but not much.

To put things into perspective , four A10 and a C130 gunship is an aggressive ground support mission to support a couple of platoons of ambushed Marines.

Obama could have and still can shut off the flow of oil with minimal and easily repaired damage to the choke points in the system pretty much over night so respect for Assad's oil infrastructure is just the latest in a long line of red herring excuses Obama uses to avoid attacking ISIS

[mad_as_he$$]

They dropped leaflets and let the humans escape before firing.

[Uncle Miltie]

So a year later we are finally getting g serious?

I still doubt that

[mad_as_he$$]

See post 27.

[tanknetter]

This is exactly why we keep the A-10 around.

[MNJohnnie]

Jan 2017 cannot come soon enough.

[OLDCU]

He’s very accomplished at leading from behind.

[grcuster]

Taking the gloves should involve sending in the B52s and unleash their load. Maybe be the could have an errant drop over cair. Carpet bombing is needed, vile islamist meet brute force.

[mad_as_he$$]

;-)

[dartuser]

American military officials have come to the conclusion that the U.S.-led air campaign targeting Syria’s oil infrastructure — which has provided the Islamic State with hundreds of millions of dollars over the past two years — has been too cautious. A new offensive aims to change that.

No worries, when the 150 billion in frozen assets from Iran becomes available, they won't need the pittance oil money.

[t4texas]

I agree! And on the subject of Iran . . . Obama, Kerry, et al insist that the treaty brokered with that regime is a good one. In support of this claim they state on-site inspections are key. If, in fact, there is merit to this argument, how much time will elapse before an inspection is requested let alone conducted? How else can we know if Iran will live up to its side of the deal? Time to prove it up.

[aumrl]

This month, the coalition has launched over a dozen airstrikes...

I think I see the problem...

[UCANSEE2]

But there was little doubt that the U.S. aerial assault that tore through 116 ISIS oil tankers parked near an Iraqi border crossing

While there are satellite pictures (taken by Russia) of caravans of oil tankers that go on for miles and miles.... the US bombed 116 tankers that were PARKED... because they were broken down.

[glorgau]

Shades of Vietnam. It’s “graduated escalation” all over again. The idiots in this administration think they’re so smart and original.

[spokeshave]

The area where the trucks assembled in Syria has been closely monitored by US reconnaissance drones.

As many as 1,000 trucks have been observed there, waiting to receive their cargo of illicit oil, the report said, adding that

at the time of the attack, 295 trucks were in the area,

Oh Jeeeze ....do I have to say it.