Posted on 11/17/2015 5:24:06 AM PST by 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
LOL, for now. Once the media avert their eyes, they will be put back on.
Basic warfare training: an army that can’t eat or move is DEAD!
Bomb the supply lines, the supply depots, the manufacturers, hell, anyone remotely associated with the enemy, until they no longer like the taste of war! PERIOD!
Ground troops are then used to mop up the few stupid resistance fighters and then you squeeze the balls of the entire country until they give an unconditional surrender!
Just like Japan and Germany, you give back a little control at a time, ensuring that they do not fall back into their old deadly ways!
And contrary to popular media myths, that is NOT nation building, that is a just and proper defensive stance!!
And, when necessary, leading with it. At least according to Reggie Love.
The US wants to stop ISIL’s oil industry but is bombing the wrong targets
http://qz.com/551546/the-us-wants-to-stop-isils-oil-industry-but-is-bombing-the-wrong-targets/
Right...
You win the internet for the day!
The countries in the Middle East neighborhood need to solve their own problems for a change. I don’t one more American killed or a dime spent on the Middle East. Too many strange entangled relationships over there that allow the USA to be played like a flute.
Iran hates ISIS. Saudis claim they hate ISIS. Turn them both loose on ISIS. Most of ISIS came from the Baathist’s that Bremmer and Bush purposely disenfranchised from the Iraqi military and set loose in the foolish Iraq War to “give them freedom” endeavor.
Most of all the Syrian refugees need to be given protection in their Middle East backyard, not Europe and USA.
The USA and European legacy citizens are being purposely set up by the globalist elites who push this multiculturalism so as to justify loss of privacy, rights and freedoms in the name of security.
Interesting. News like this would have made the price of oil go up in the past. However, since that does not suit the purpose of those manipulating them markets right now, oil doesn’t move. Pretty wow, no?
Yeh after Donald Trump came up with the idea. Unreal!
This weekend, and 9/11 attacks didn’t teach you they will attack us at home?
You would rather wait until they are in force in our own cities?
They have already declared war on us. Better to kill off the nest than wait for the swarm is in our homes.
Two items.
Fairly insignificant oil production from that area today.
Secondly, World Oil is still dealing with an oversupply.
If all the oil produced in Syria was shut off, I don’t think we would see even regional shortages (outside of Syria), let alone a global impact. There is a lot of oil in storage today; Contango is already in effect.
We have a trillion dollar military and it doesn’t even protect our borders.......and that happens in both D and R administrations. Our real American problem are leaders that have devious motives above and beyond their first priority which should be the USA and Americans.
Yah, that’s it, destroy the oil infrastructure, never mind targeting the middlemen, the shippers, the buyers, the Milo Minderbinders who make hay out of any disaster.
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