Good Work Delta Force!

[LucidElement]

U.S. personnel overnight killed a key Islamic State leader in charge of the group's oil and gas operations in a raid in eastern Syria, the White House said Saturday. A team of Delta Force commandos slipped across the border from Iraq under cover of darkness Saturday aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Osprey aircraft, according to a U.S. defense official knowledgeable about details of the raid. The U.S. team killed leader Abu Sayyaf and 11 other ISIS fighters and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf. A senior defense official told Fox News that while no Americans were injured or killed in the operation, some of the fighting was hand-to-hand and that Sayyaf used women and children as human shields.

"It was a real firefight - a no kidding old school firefight," a senior defense official said. Ancient Assyrian texts and other priceless artifacts were recovered as well as what the defense official called a "treasure trove" of intelligence materials, such as cell phones, laptops and documents. Sayyaf was a senior ISIS leader whose roles included overseeing illicit oil and gas operations -- key sources of revenue for the terror group, according to the White House. He also was allegedly involved with the group's military operations.

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/16/us-conducts-raid-on-isis-in-syria-kills-top-official/

[Imaginarynumber1]

Now somehow make it about Obama doing something wrong...

[Occult1]

I guess that's part of Obama's plan to ultimately degrade ISIL by strenghtening the opposition and surgical strikes until the organization crumbles into pieces. But whether we want it or not, this will probably help the Syrian regime and other rebel groups in the area, so who are the West exactly helping is really not clear.

Edited May 17, 2015 by samus

[Space Commander Travis]

Let's see how he spins it so that he's still fulfilling his promise not to have any boots on the ground. Maybe they were wearing sneakers.

Anyway, seriously, undoubtedly far preferable to the policy of assassination by Drone where anyone who happens to be in the vicinity is described as the target. Will it make any discernible difference to the effectiveness of ISIS, if they are as effective as we're always told they are? I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

[Space Commander Travis]

I guess that's part of Obama's plan to ultimately degrade ISIL by strenghtening the opposition and surgical strikes until the organization crumbles into pieces. But whether we want it or not, this will probably help the Syrian regime and other rebel groups in the area, so who are the West exactly helping is really not clear.

Who's the greatest danger? Assad may be ruthless with dissenters, certainly, but not even Obama or Israel have tried to make out that he'd be likely to be any realistic danger to anywhere else. ISIS, though, even if they're not the unstoppable terror army, are undoubtedly very good at taking advantage of vacuums of power.

[.ZZ.]

Yes, good job you guys!

[lightly]

U.S. personnel overnight killed a key Islamic State leader in charge of the group's oil and gas operations in a raid in eastern Syria, the White House said Saturday. A team of Delta Force commandos slipped across the border from Iraq under cover of darkness Saturday aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Osprey aircraft, according to a U.S. defense official knowledgeable about details of the raid. The U.S. team killed leader Abu Sayyaf and 11 other ISIS fighters and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf. A senior defense official told Fox News that while no Americans were injured or killed in the operation, some of the fighting was hand-to-hand and that Sayyaf used women and children as human shields.

"It was a real firefight - a no kidding old school firefight," a senior defense official said. Ancient Assyrian texts and other priceless artifacts were recovered as well as what the defense official called a "treasure trove" of intelligence materials, such as cell phones, laptops and documents. Sayyaf was a senior ISIS leader whose roles included overseeing illicit oil and gas operations -- key sources of revenue for the terror group, according to the White House. He also was allegedly involved with the group's military operations.

Link: http://www.foxnews.c...s-top-official/

apparently control of oil and gas operations are important. One question, why can't we know the NAME of this "senior defense official" ?

It's not as if he is a covert agent.. he's called a Senior Defense Official. Would it jeopardize national security to know Who was speaking in the interview to Fox News? I'm tired of hearing of unnamed officials giving statements . It's unverifiable.

i like how they, whoever they are, mention the recovery of Ancient Assyrian texts and other priceless artifacts.

I remember Rumsfeld , in response to a question ,with his typical sickening smirk, on camera, making fun of "Vases" when the Museum in Iraq was looted.. as if they held no importance whatsoever.

*

Edited May 17, 2015 by lightly

[RoofGardener]

Taking all of this at face value; the damage to ISIS is in the intelligence; names of other senior members etc.

Loss of this sort of information is highly corrosive to moral, quite apart from its practical effects.

[Space Commander Travis]

Frankly given the latest dazzling incompetence from the Iraqi "Army" (who make Mussolini's army in WWII look good in comparison) Ramadi falls to Isis fighters despite Iraqi PM's call for reinforcements , it looks like it's gonna need someone competent to puncture the myth of invincibility.

[RoofGardener]

What IS it with the Iraq "army" ?

On an even more interesting angle; it appears that Iranian-backed Shia militiamen are in the general fray against ISIS (though not previously involved in Ramada. They seem to be the only ones able to withstand ISIS, and the Iraqi government has now "officially" requested their assistance in Ramada. That is a pretty seismic turnaround.

If the Iranian Shia's are successful, and if they refrain from any Shia/Sunni sectarianism, then Iran's credibility will skyrocket in the eyes of the average Iraqi. And THAT opens up the possibility of Iraqi territories "succeeding" to Iran ?

[Space Commander Travis]

What IS it with the Iraq "army" ?

I think this feller must be their supreme commander ..

Annibale Bergonzoli

[RoofGardener]

Well, there is an interesting opinion piece here from Al Jazeera.

One US soldier makes a telling comment:

"In the west, you sign up because you want to be a soldier. Over here, you sign up because you want a job"

Edited May 18, 2015 by RoofGardener

[Occult1]

On an even more interesting angle; it appears that Iranian-backed Shia militiamen are in the general fray against ISIS (though not previously involved in Ramada. They seem to be the only ones able to withstand ISIS, and the Iraqi government has now "officially" requested their assistance in Ramada. That is a pretty seismic turnaround.

If the Iranian Shia's are successful, and if they refrain from any Shia/Sunni sectarianism, then Iran's credibility will skyrocket in the eyes of the average Iraqi. And THAT opens up the possibility of Iraqi territories "succeeding" to Iran ?

The Iran-backed Shi'a militias have been crucial in the fight against ISIL in Iraq so far. I think there are ~20,000 of these militiamen boosting the ranks of the Iraqi forces. Iran has every reason not to allow Iraq to fall into the hands of ISIL, for one they have to protect their own borders and won't put up with this extreme sunnis organization as a neighbhor. Aslo, the Shiite-led Iraqi governement is a friend and ally and I believe Iran were the first to provide them with military support when ISIL overran parts of the country.

Edited May 18, 2015 by samus

[+and-then]

The Iran-backed Shi'a militias have been crucial in the fight against ISIL in Iraq so far. I think there are ~20,000 of these militiamen boosting the ranks of the Iraqi forces. Iran has every reason not to allow Iraq to fall into the hands of ISIL, for one they have to protect their own borders and won't put up with this extreme sunnis organization as a neighbhor. Aslo, the Shiite-led Iraqi governement is a friend and ally and I believe Iran were the first to provide them with military support when ISIL overran parts of the country.

Everything you've said is true but what about his last point? Countries rarely do anything out of kindness so my guess is that Iran will definitely require a quid pro quo. Part of the reason that Iraq is in such a state is that the US did not insist on Iraq's government keeping the agreement to truly share power. The Sunni's supported ISIS because they were being shat upon by the Al Maliki government. Had the Sunnis and Kurds been allowed to also hold power the problems would have been MUCH slower to arise, I think.

[Occult1]

Everything you've said is true but what about his last point? Countries rarely do anything out of kindness so my guess is that Iran will definitely require a quid pro quo. Part of the reason that Iraq is in such a state is that the US did not insist on Iraq's government keeping the agreement to truly share power. The Sunni's supported ISIS because they were being shat upon by the Al Maliki government. Had the Sunnis and Kurds been allowed to also hold power the problems would have been MUCH slower to arise, I think.

While Iran has a lot of influence over what goes on in Iraq, I don't think they want to ''invade'' the country. Mostly they need to clean this mess for their own security but also to keep their allies in place. Their interests are at stake. If they had not supported the Army, the Iraqi gov would be a lot more weakened. Al Maliki was a disaster, no doubt, and probably was pressured by both the US and Iran to step down. The new Prime Minister al-Abadi seems more reasonable.

Edited May 19, 2015 by samus

[RoofGardener]

Weeeell... lets not forget that Iraq is a Shia majority country, historically ruled by a small Sunni 'elite'. I can't imagine Iran attacking Iraq in the traditional sense, but I COULD imagine a move to try and merge the two countries into one ?

[Space Commander Travis]

It might be fair to remember that Iraq was only put together by Britain after WWI. Maybe it's time to admit that it was an experiment that hasn't really worked very well.

[Taun]

It will be interesting to see what links to oil producers they have... To see if it's without the OPEC members knowledge or if they are complicit to some degree...

[+and-then]

Weeeell... lets not forget that Iraq is a Shia majority country, historically ruled by a small Sunni 'elite'. I can't imagine Iran attacking Iraq in the traditional sense, but I COULD imagine a move to try and merge the two countries into one ?

Possibly, but from what I read, Persians have a definite aversion to Arabs and vice versa. Just another of the many oddities that make that part of the world a joy to deal with.