The War Room:The US Air Force and the War On ISIL-plus the air strike on Libya

The hot,dusty expanse of Al Udeid Air Base in the deserts of Qatar is the home of US Central Command's Combined Forces Air Component,Lieutenant General John Hesterman III,commander.Since August 8,coalition airpower has significantly degraded ISIL's ability to organise,project and sustain combat power while taking exceptional care to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties,LTGEN Hesterman said.Coalition airpower has helped ground forces regain territory,removed significant numbers of fighters from the battlefield,and eliminated the majority of ISIL oil refining capability.*
As the enemy's tactics change,so have our air power tactics,and we are still fighting and eliminating ISIL fighters,added Major John Easton,Air Forces CENTCOM tactics officer.ISIL is very much afraid of our ability to strike them.*
I expect my team to lean forward,and they are,LTGEN Hesterman continued.Not only has airpower been effective,but it has enabled virtually every victory on the battlefield and given the ground forces time to regroup and get their forces in order.It's also given all our coalition nations the space and time to execute the international lines of effort for countering flow of foreign fighters;countering ISIL financing;providing humanitarian assistance;containing ISIL's messaging and stabilising liberated areas,all of which will be necessary to finish ISIL.
Responding to critics of the air campaign,Lieutenant Colonel Dave Haworth,Combined Air Operations Center Combat Operations Director,said that while pilots struck large numbers of targets in Desert Storm and the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom,those fights had extremely different and available target sets.In previous campaigns,we were fighting against a conventional military that massed in the open,away from the civilian population.Those target sets don't exist in this fight now.We're fighting an enemy that hides behind civilians.You simply can't compare then to now.*
A very recent example of what air power has achieved is the success of Kurdish YPG and Free Syrian Army ground forces in recapturing most of the strategic town of Tal Abyad,Syria from ISIL near the Turkish border.Only pockets of ISIL resistance remain in the town,which is a critical link in ISIL's supply line to their capital Raqqa,80 kilometers to the north.The Kurds and FSA entered the town on Monday 15 June after a day of swift advances enabled by coalition air strikes.More than 16,000 residents of Tal Abyad and nearby villages were displaced by the heavy fighting-terrorised by ISIL and bombarded from all sides,a refugee told the Al Jazeera news channel.The main push to the town had begun on 11 June.*
In another effective use of air power,in this case against al Qaida militant leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar,Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James confirmed that the Air Force had carried out an air strike in Libya with precision weapons.It was the first US air strike in Libya since 2011.Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren,US Army,added that two Boeing F-15 Strike Eagles carried out the raid with 500 lb. bombs in Eastern Libya,escorted by observation drones.
Belmokhtar was leader of an al Qaida affiliate which he co-founded called Al-Murabitoun,having formerly been chief of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb,AQIM.In that capacity,he was mastermind of the 2013 seizure of a gas plant in Algeria that resulted in the deaths of 38 hostages,including three Americans and several British.Belmokhtar also claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in Niger that killed 20 people.
The internationally recognised government of Libya stated on Tuesday that Belmokhtar and other militants were killed in the US raid,which took place on a farm south of Ajdabiya,about 160 kilometers south of Benghazi,as Belmokhtar met leaders from other Islamist extremist groups,including Ansar al-Sharia.*
In 2014,US special operations forces mounted an operation in Libya in which they captured Ahmed Abu Khattala.an organizer of the 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi that killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.*
Boeing (BA)

Afghanistan:US Counterterrorism Combat Will Continue;Air Strike in Somalia

On Sunday,28 December,Operation Enduring Freedom ended after 13 years of the Afghan War that cost the lives of more than 2,000 US troops.Some 10,800 US troops will remain until America's allies up their contribution;then 9800 US troops will provide the bulk of NATO's Operation Resolute Support,which will have an end strength of 13,500.The US will share an advise,assist and training mission with its NATO allies;but will handle counterterrorism combat operations on its own under the name Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
US troops will continue to engage in combat with al Qaida militants in Afghanistan still posing a national security risk to the United States.Outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement that we will work with our allies and partners as part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission to continue training,advising and assisting Afghan security forces.And we will continue our counterterrorism mission against the remnants of al Qaida to ensure that Afghanistan is never again used to stage attacks against our homeland.
General John Campbell,US Army,is commander of both NATO's Operation Resolute Support and America's Operation Freedom's Sentinel.The Afghan National Security Forces number more than 350,000 troops and police,and have shown themselves to be fairly competent in combat and security operations after extensive training,though deficient in logistics and airpower against a Taliban and al Qaida enemy that remain determined and dangerous to the fledgling Afghan democracy.*
Meanwhile,the US continues to combat Islamist militants in Somalia as well.Today it conducted an airstrike on a leader of the al-Shabab organization near Saakow,Somalia.The militant's identity was not revealed;nor had the effectiveness of the strike been ascertained;it was still being assessed.Al-Shabab is an al Qaida affiliate.
Update:On Wednesday 31 December,the Pentagon stated that the Somali Islamist militant leader targeted in Monday's airstrike had been killed when his vehicle was struck by several Hellfire missiles fired by a drone.The strike had been triggered by actionable intelligence.The leader killed was Tahliil Abdishakur,chief of al-Shabab's intelligence section.

Major Increase in US Troops in Iraq-return to the Triangle of Death

A major increase in US troop strength in Iraq that could see the force roughly doubled from 1400 today up to 3100 soldiers has been initiated by President Barack Obama.The 1400 current troops there now are divided among around 600 advise and assist specialists,and 800 security forces around the US Embassy and Baghdad International Airport.Now the US has begun moving back into Anbar Province,Iraq,which it withdrew from just over three years ago.A team of around 50 US troops has arrived at Al-Asad Air Base,once a huge US military installation during the Iraq War.They are there to assess the site for a new base in the US-led coalition's advise and assist effort for the Iraqi army.*
From 2004-07,US forces,spearheaded by the Marine Corps,fought their way across Anbar province,losing hundreds of soldiers in the process.Al Qaida in Iraq proved to be a formidable enemy to the Americans in that region,which was called the "Sunni Triangle of Death,"referring to the Sunni Muslim militants taking the lives of US troops.Although not on a combat mission,some of the 50 returning US soldiers are armed for force protection purposes.They are the vanguard of a shift in coalition strategy from defensive to offensive operations in Iraq.The Iraqi military plans to go on the offensive in the spring,and they will need the US at their side,not just advising from a distance.*
US commanders have expressed frustration that targets in this anti-Islamic State operation that now has a name,Operation Inherent Resolve,are slipping away from them as they try to verify the targets according to stringent rules,in an effort to be totally sure no civilians are in these nighttime convoy targets.The White House,however,is afraid civilian casualties will spook European members of the coalition into pulling out.And the strikes on Islamic State militants in neighbouring Syria are small and CIA-led for deniability,while US commanders want them to be larger,more effective strikes.In response to the growing need for US support,the President is reluctantly increasing America's footprint on the expanding battlefield.

Afghan War Progress:Militants Low On Funds

Taliban militants trying to unseat the Afghan government and reinstate their radical Islamist reign are finding their funding drying up,the result of the predominant U.S. Marine and other coalition forces being active in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar Provinces.From threatening poppy growers to processing and smuggling heroin,the militants' fund-raising habits are being disrupted,forcing them to resort to unearthing stashes of old weapons and ammunition.
Mullah Omar,the Taliban leader in hiding since U.S. forces and the Afghan Northern Alliance drove him from power in 2001,issued a plea for Muslims to fund the militant cause.He spoke in a greeting on Eid-al-Adha,the major Muslim observance.
Afghan villagers and farmers are bolder in standing up to the militants with the coalition troops around.Soon,the Marines and British troops will be setting up self-defense units of 50 Afghans apiece,formalizing their independent streak.A similar tactic proved successful in Iraq,tapping anti-Al Qaida sentiment there and focusing it on dislodging that Islamic militant group.
Although neither the Taliban nor Al Qaida in Iraq are likely to disappear entirely,they are being marginalized over time,to the point where indigenous security forces can contain them.They are being pushed to outlying villages and the cover of darkness.
The NATO defense alliance plans to completely turn security over to Afghan forces by 2014.NATO emphasizes,however,that this is a goal.If conditions in certain areas do not warrant the transfer of authority,U.S. and allied troops may remain on station there.
Scholars point out that the ultimate challenge is setting up honest governments the locals can rely on,backed by competent indigenous security forces to defend them from the gruff Islamic militants.

Embassy Attacked in Yemen

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen was attacked today.A car bomb blew up at the embassy gates,killing 17 people,including Yemeni guards.A group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks.The group is believed to be a front for al Qaida,as the attack bore the al Qaida hallmark of multiple explosions.The fact that only one American was killed does not make this event less significant,though many in the American media may believe that.The bravery and tragedy of the Yemeni deaths is just as real as if they had been Americans.The Yemeni people should have our full respect.

The Commandant's Voice

One of those supporting sending more U.S. Marines to Afghanistan is General James T. Conway,Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.He said that 25,000 Marines in Anbar province,Iraq are probably in excess of the need.Attacks in Anbar are down markedly from two years ago.On the other hand,the general noted,the Taliban are growing bolder in their tactics in Afghanistan,and clearly doing their best to exploit security gaps where they exist.As well,al Qaida is shifting its focus to Pakistan and Afghanistan,having been largely defeated in Iraq.The economy of force,General Conway believes,is not necessarily working in Afghanistan.Without more Marines,militants may retake captured territory and subjugate the Afghan people.We need to maintain the momentum.Accordingly,Marines have been intensifying their mountain warfare training in the U.S. in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.It is the Marine Corps view,the Commandant stated,that if there is a stiffer fight going someplace else in a more expeditionary environment,that's where we need to be.Indeed,President George W. Bush has ordered a battalion of Marines to Afghanistan before the year's end,to replace a battalion-or 3200 Marines-that is coming off its extended deployment in November.

Anbar Control Transferred

The security of Iraq's Anbar province has been entrusted to Iraqi forces by the U.S. military.Less than two years ago,Anbar was an al Qaida haven,and more than 1,000 U.S. service members died in the fighting there.There are 25,000 U.S. Marines there now,and it is hoped that many of them can be used to bolster security in Afghanistan,now that Anbar has been quieted considerably.Major General John Kelly,commander of the Marines in Anbar,said the drawdown will occur incrementally.He has already sent four CH-53 Sea Stallion and four Cobra helicopters,as well as several detachments of Marines,over to Afghanistan.The Marines continue to work15-20 hours a day in Iraq,as it is still a dangerous place.They are continuing to train Iraqi police and soldiers,and they are a force for stability,General Kelly stated.