US-Led Task Force Fighting ISIS Is Getting A New Name

A US Army 5th Special Forces Group soldier watches as a Jordanian 101st Special Force Brigade soldier moves through a combat marksmanship drill during a Joint Combined Exchange Training in Jordan, November 9, 2021. US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Nina Ramon 

Insider: After 7 years, a US-led task force fighting ISIS is getting a new name and taking a new approach to its mission 

* The US-led special-operations task force that led the way against ISIS is getting a new name. 

* Formed in 2015, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve is now Special Operations Joint Task Force-Levant. 

* With the name change comes expanded authority, as the task force broadens its focus on new and old threats. 

The special-operations task force that led the way in the war against ISIS has been renamed as major combat operations against the terrorist group wind down. 

Since 2015, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, or SOJTF-OIR, has been the tip of the spear in the multinational coalition that came together to fight ISIS. 

After almost seven years, the Pentagon has renamed the unit. Special Operations Joint Task Force-Levant, or SOJTF-Levant, now has expanded authority in the region.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The name and approach to the mission may change but the focus will continue albeit with an expanded scope.

Report Says US Military Covered Up Airstrike That 'Killed Dozens Of Civilians' In Syria

Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. US military officials watched the Baghuz massacre here via drone footage in real time. (US Air Force)  

Daily Mail: 'We just dropped on 50 women and children': US military covered up airstrike that 'killed dozens of civilians' in Syria during ISIS final stand 

* Airstrike in Syria killed up to 64 women and children in 2019, the NYT reports 

* Military reportedly covered up the civilian death toll despite internal protests 

* Strike came as ISIS holed up to make a final stand in a camp near Baghuz 

* Secretive Task Force 9 called in the strike, claiming it was in self-defense 

* CENTCOM reiterated its accounts of the events in a statement to DailyMail.com 

The U.S. military covered up 2019 airstrikes in Syria that killed up to 64 women and children, a possible war crime, during the battle against Islamic State, according to a new report. 

The two back-to-back airstrikes near the town of Baghuz were ordered by a classified American special operations unit tasked with ground operations in Syria, the New York Times reported on Saturday. 

'We just dropped on 50 women and children,' a shocked analyst watching drone footage of the strike in real time told colleagues on a secure chat system.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The US Defense Secretary wants to be briefed .... Pentagon Chief Orders Briefing on 2019 Syria Airstrike That Killed Dozens (Chronicle 24 News/New York Times)  

Update: The New York Times report that broke this story is here .... How the U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians in Syria (New York Times). 

More News On The Report From The New York Times That Says The US Military Covered Up An Airstrike That 'Killed Dozens Of Civilians' In Syria  

US admits it killed multiple civilians in Syria air strikes days before fall of ISIS in 2019 -- CNN  

US army covered up Syria airstrikes that killed up to 64 women, children in 2019: report -- Reuters  

US claims 2019 airstrike that hit Syrian women and children was justified -- The Guardian  

US defends air strikes that killed civilians in Syria -- BBC 

US Likely Buried Details of Syrian Airstrikes Over Shame of Causing Civilian Deaths, Experts Say -- Sputnik  

Syria's My Lai? US massacred 70 civilians and covered it up -- Substack  

The military keeps finding it did nothing wrong when it investigates itself -- Task & Purpose

U.S. Air Force Continues To Launch Air strikes Against ISIS In Iraq

An Iraqi F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft takes off June 17, 2019, at Balad Air Base, Iraq. (Staff Sgt. Luke Kitterman/Air Force) 

Air Force Times: Air Force continues to pound ISIS targets in Iraq 

U.S. airpower continues to play a role in the ongoing fight against the remnants of the Islamic State. 

At least one U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle was “part of coalition forces which conducted air strikes at request and approval of government of Iraq,” a defense official told Military Times Saturday afternoon. 

The jets took part in a combined air and partner ground operation against ISIS targets in Iraq’s Salah-al-Din Governate, according to a tweet from Yahia Rasool, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. 

The attacks, in the Wadi al-Tharthar and Mutaybija areas north of Baghdad, destroyed two ISIS camps and two caves, killing at least two ISIS fighters, Rasool tweeted. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: While the U.S. is targeting ISIS, others are targeting the U.S. .... Rockets hit near Iraq base housing US trainers, no one hurt (AP).

U.K. Ministry Of Defense Says Over 1,400 ISIS Militants Have Been Killed Or Wounded By Drone Strikes In Syria And Iraq Over The Past Six Years

© CC BY 2.0 / Cpl Steve Bain ABIPP 

Express: RAF drone attacks DESTROY over 1,400 ISIS terrorists over past six years 

BRITISH military forces have taken out more than 1,400 ISIS terrorists over the past six years by drone strike, it has been revealed. 

Figures released by the Ministry of Defence show how bombing missions by pilotless aircrafts were effective. 

The flight logs reveal how RAF MQ-9 Reaper drones, which are controlled by military crews in bunkers located in the UK, have been deployed on 4,107 missions in Syria and Iraq since 2014. 

Read more .... 

Update #1: British drone strikes have zapped more than 1,400 ISIS terrorists over last six years (The SUN) 

Update #2: 'Rigorous Targeting': Over 1,400 Daesh Militants Killed or Wounded in UK Drone Strikes, Report Says (Sputnik) 

WNU Editor: If the UK was able to take out 1400 ISIS militants, you have to wonder how many did the U.S. take-out with their massive fleet of drones. 

Where Are All The American ISIS Fighters?

FOX News: Almost all American ISIS fighters unaccounted for, sparking fears they could slip through cracks and return

When it came to recruiting foreigners to flee the comforts of home for the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, ISIS succeeded like no other — encouraging more than 40,000 fighters from more than 110 countries to travel to the fighting fray both before and after the declaration of the “caliphate” in June 2014. Subsequently, authorities have warned about the threat of returning jihadists to their homeland and since the falls of Mosul, Raqqa and the rapidly receding footprint of ISIS, such fears have come to the forefront.

According to a new report, “Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees,” released this week by the Soufan Center — a Washington-based security intelligence consultancy — there are now at least 5,600 citizens or residents from 33 countries who have returned home — accounting for about 15 percent of the fighters.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Many of these American ISIS fighters are probably dead. And those who are alive my guess is that they are probably in hiding in the Middle East knowing too well that if they return to the U.S. they would be detained and/or facing charges for war crimes committed during the war.

Report: FBI Conducting 1,000 Active Investigations Into ISIS-Related Threats Throughout The U.S.

Charlotte Observer: Feds confirm ISIS investigations underway in NC

Shortly after Justin Sullivan was sentenced to life in prison for planning to commit mass murder in support of the Islamic State, U.S. Attorney Jill Rose of Charlotte confirmed that investigations of other suspected ISIS sympathizers continue in North Carolina.

A domestic-terrorism expert told the Observer this week that the North Carolina probes are among some 1,000 active FBI investigations into ISIS-related threats encompassing all 50 states.

One case involves a 29-year-old Waxhaw man accused of lying to the FBI when he denied he told someone he planned to fly to Syria to fight with ISIS while helping others get there to do the same, according to a bill of indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.

Read more ....

Update: Feds report 1,000 active investigations in US into ISIS-related threats (American Thinker)

WNU Editor: You cannot watch all of them.

Report: Islamic State Support Is Growing In The U.S.

A compilation of Twitter feeds of ISIS activists and sympathizers, compiled by researchers at the George Washington University Program on Extremism. CBS

The Hill: Analysis: US support for ISIS 'unprecedented'

Academic experts fear that American support for radical Islamism has reached “unprecedented” levels, even while it stays well below the support for the extremists seen in other countries.

Academics at George Washington University’s program on extremism found that the types of Americans drawn to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) vary widely in terms of race, age, education and family background. Yet they are largely all united by their use of social media, which ISIS has been able to master as its reach has grown.

“What we do see in the United States is an unprecedented mobilization” that is “bigger than any other mobilization we have seen since 9/11,” said Lorenzo Vidino, the director of the university’s program, said during an event releasing the report on Tuesday.

WNU Editor: This study/analysis on Americans supporting the Islamic State is here.

More News On Islamic State Support Growing In The U.S.

Islamic State's online supporters include 300 Americans: report -- Reuters
ISIS Followers in U.S. Are Diverse and Young -- NYT
ISIS has 300 US ambassadors on Twitter, report says -- MSNBC
Report tracks hundreds of U.S. ISIS sympathizers on Twitter -- CBS
ISIS has 300 American ambassadors spreading propaganda and trying to recruit would-be terrorists on Twitter - and many are women -- Daily Mail
Support for ISIS Is Growing in the U.S., Report Finds -- Time
Study: Islamic State recruitment in U.S. is varied, 'unprecedented' -- UPI
Study finds dozens of ISIS-related crimes in US -- Boston Globe
'American Isis Twitter scene' reveals social media's power to radicalise -- The Guardian

The U.S. Prepares For A Long War In Iraq

Greg Jaffe and Missy Ryan, Washington Post: Obama’s new plan against ISIS signals that U.S. still in for a long war in Iraq

President Obama’s announcement Wednesday that he is sending 450 more military advisers to Iraq highlights the central dilemma of his faltering strategy there: how to shore up the country’s fragile government without being pulled more deeply into a war he never wanted.

With few good options, Obama’s plan amounts to a decision to stay the course.

Administration officials say the troop increase — the second since U.S. troops returned to Iraq last year — isn’t intended to produce quick battlefield victories.

Rather, the additional troops are being sent to aid Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s outreach to disaffected Sunnis and bolster the Iraqi army, whose feckless performance has left the Iraqi leader vulnerable to challenges from Shiite hard-liners more closely aligned with Iran. A weakened Abadi, U.S. officials fear, would strengthen the position of Shiite Iran, which has cast itself as Iraq’s only effective partner in a largely sectarian war with the Sunni-dominated Islamic State.

WNU Editor: The sectarian wars in the Middle East are conflicts that can potentially go on for generations. Sending in a few hundred US advisers to an Iraqi province will .... in the long run .... make very little (in any) difference. But if I was to sum up the current White House strategy, I would have to say that it is to .... (1) establish a status quo in Syria so that nothing changes (i.e. Assad's regime does not collapse to be replaced by radical Sunnis), (2) make sure that the Iraqi government does not collapse, (3) minimize the Iranian influence in both Syria and Iraq (which is impossible in my opinion), and (4) to keep the Islamic State from expanding. And while pursuing this policy .... minimize the U.S. involvement .... and more importantly .... hand it to the next administration before the entire thing collapses so that you do not get blame for it politically. My prediction .... this strategy is going to collapse .... and it will happen before the 2016 Presidential election.