Posted on 11/25/2019 10:49:44 AM PST by BeauBo
United States troops have resumed large-scale counterterrorism missions against the Islamic State in northern Syria, military officials say... On Friday, American soldiers and hundreds of Syrian Kurdish fighters... reunited to conduct what the Pentagon said was a large-scale mission to kill and capture ISIS fighters in Deir al-Zour province, about 120 miles south of the Turkish border.
Over the next days and weeks, the pace will pick back up against remnants of ISIS, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the commander of the militarys Central Command, told reporters... When the dust settles on all of the troop movements, General McKenzie said he would have about 500 American forces, or half of what he had before Mr. Trumps directives, operating in an area east of the Euphrates River and Deir al-Zour, north to al-Hasakah and into Syrias far northeast along the border with Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The facts are that ISIS has taken huge hits in the last few weeks. Huge.
The killing of their Caliph, ends any authority they could claim under islamic law (sharia).
No doubt that raid produced valuable intelligence, to use to roll up the whole network, and take out their critical support systems (like finance). Other senior figures have already been rolled up, including the heir apparent to Baghdadi.
We saw the ISIS presence in Afghanistan demolished since the Baghdadi raid, and now they are likely working their way down the priority list to stamp out remnants in Syria. Afghanistan had more of the International jihadis, whereas Syrian ISIS remnants are more local Syrian tribesmen.
The major Turkish strategy to invade and occupy Northern Syria, ethnically cleanse the Kurds, and establish a little Sunni extremist/jihadist safe haven have been thwarted. There was no big jail break, and European Countries have agreed to start taking their jihadi citizens back for prosecution.
Russia and Assad have assumed the burden of deterring Turkey long term, getting the US out of that position which weakened NATO, back into a position where Turkish and Russian guns are pointed at each other, driving Turkey into NATO's arms.
So the net result of all of the jui-jutsu over the last few weeks, is a dramatically improved long-term strategic position, a dramatically weakened and collapsing ISIS terrorist network, and a net reduction of half of our already lean commitment of troops (down to only around 500).
The article points out that France has re-iterated their intent to continue their strong Military support to attacking ISIS in Syria as well. They have been flying sorties and dropping bombs on ISIS targets there since shortly after the Bataclan massacre in Paris, and their aircraft carrier, the Charles DeGaulle, has made multiple trips to resupply their load of ordnance.
Got to give credit our Kurdish allies in the region as well. We could not hope for a more effective occupation force to police that hotbed of Sunni extremism in the Euphrates River Valley, which was part of the very heartland of the ISIS movement.
Syria Ping.
Break’s over, we are back on the job.
Obama is saddened by this news..
McCain is rather upset about this.
Obama is saddened by this news..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So is Grahamnesty.
We need to start dropping fuel-air bombs on them.
Also, we need to stop worrying about collateral damage, it’s a war; civilian casualties are just a fact of life.
I like it when some Americans do something. :)
I think they just set a trap - pull back and out, take political flak for believability - the bring the hammer when they re-concentrate (like cockroaches).
This is obviously fake news. Just a year ago, Donald Trump ordered a full, rapid withdrawal of over 2,000 US troops in Syria, declaring victory over the Islamic State.
This is completely pointless. We are not at war with ISIS. We are not at war with ‘radical islam’.
Islam is at war with the world.
Get out of Syria and let Assad get back to dealing with groups like ISIS. He has his grave faults but at least he is good at that.
If you are in government service, have a security clearance and you have a relationship with a reporter, any reporter, this needs to be self-reported in a manner similar to changes in marriage or co-habitation circumstance. Otherwise you lose your security clearance or worse.
That being said, I dont believe anything published in the NY Slimes.
As requested. Thanks for the post.
Syrian Ping
BeauBo: Break’s over!
Seems like a lot of effort against a JV team.
Assad’s partner, Iran, is as big a terrorist supporter as any who support ISIS.
Assad and Russia did not defeat ISIS. The Kurds did in Northern Syria (with the help of the USA).
Those are facts.
The Middle East is a complex place, Assad is on the wrong side in the overall battle.
and their aircraft carrier, the Charles DeGaulle, has made multiple trips to resupply their load of ordnance
.
Good news for civilization and our Kurdish friends. Seeing fearful locals throwing trash at retreating American soldiers is something this retired Army Officer never wants to see again.
“Also, we need to stop worrying about collateral damage, its a war; civilian casualties are just a fact of life.”
Agreed. Like Rush once said “The military’s place in war is to kill people and break things”.
“Breaks over, we are back on the job.”
Kill em all, let the stragglers re-form, repeat.
ISIS sprang up and took root in places where the U.S. destabilized and/or toppled a sovereign government that was perfectly capable of dealing with radical Islamic elements within its borders. They also flourished with the tacit support of the U.S. government in these places.
“is it all what this boats capable of?”
I did not mean to make it sound small.
I meant that they (the French aircraft carrier, the Charles DeGaulle) were not satisfied by just dropping every bomb they had on board - they keep reloading.
Essentially, they sail from Toulon in the South of France, over to the Eastern Mediterranean, and conduct combat operations until they need to resupply. They have stayed busy over there near continuously - something like six months on station, and then two weeks to kiss the wife and resupply.
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