He said he was a “well-known terrorist” who had a hand in terrorist plots outside Iraq and Syria.
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“The removal of this ISIL leader will hamper the organization’s ability for them to conduct operations both inside and outside of Iraq and Syria”, he said. This week, the group claimed credit for the bombings in Brussels that killed 31 people and injured scores.
Dunford gave the most direct indication so far that he and Carter have recommended that Obama, who has resisted engaging USA troops in ground combat, approve sending more Americans to Iraq.
The Iraqi government, with support from the US military, is preparing to try to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul, Gen. Dunford said. He didn’t say how big that increase might be. Carter did state that the campaign is being accelerated.
American ground forces now are taking a larger role in the fighting in Iraq.
“It is going to be decided in the context of the broader issue that the secretary will bring to the president again, focused on …what specifically do we need to do to enable operations in Mosul”, Dunford said. “But by no means would I say we’re about to break the back of ISIL or that the fight is over”.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to announce the news this morning during a Pentagon press conference.
Earlier this month a USA airstrike reportedly killed senior Daesh leader Omar al-Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, in the town of Shadadi in al-Hasakah province in northeastern Syria. The official was not authorized to discuss the operations so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The United States this week killed a top Islamic State commander in Syria as part of a spate of military actions targeting the terrorist group’s leadership and explosives caches, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday. He originally joined al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) in 2004 and served as AQI leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s deputy and as AQI emir of Mosul, Iraq. He stopped short, however, of saying whether Imam was linked to the cell that carried out the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels.
“This is the second senior ISIL leader we’ve successfully targeted this month, after confirming the death of ISIL’s so-called minister of war [Omar al-Shishani] a short time ago”, Carter said.
The strike comes amid growing pressure on Islamic State, which is steadily losing territory in Iraq and Syria to U.S.-backed forces.
Twitter users had mixed reactions to the news. It’s the first such base established by the USA since it returned forces to Iraq in 2014.
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Asked whether the USA was turning the corner on the fight against ISIS, Carter responded, “We’re certainly gathering momentum and we’re seeing that that momentum is having an effect”. Those options have not yet officially been submitted to the White House for approval.
