Obama considers moving USA forces deeper into Syria, Iraq

The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria carried out 22 air strikes on Saturday, majority against targets near the Iraqi towns of Kisik, Ramadi and Sinjar, the US military said on Sunday.

Another option would embed United States forces with Iraqis closer to the battlefield, at the level of brigade or a battalion, for specific operations to retake Ramadi, a western Iraqi city that IS forces captured this past spring.

The United States is leading a 60-plus member coalition allegedly targeting ISIL Takfiri group (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant) in Iraq and Syria and has been carrying out frequent raids for more than a year.

“It’s not because of Russian Federation”, said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

The AP reported “oil sales are the main source of income of the terrorist organization and the main key to maintain their rule over their self-declared caliphate in both Iraq and Syria”.

Earlier this month, USA and Russian aircraft came within visual range of each other during a mission, fanning up fears for potential conflicts between the two sides in vying for more influence in the region. Carter said he expects the matter to be on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation agenda, and he repeated his strong criticism of the Russian military involvement in Syria, calling it “doomed to fail” and “way off track”. That’s just a fact of life-and one of the reasons the U.S. Air Force is so eager to replace its oldest fighters (the U.S. Navy’s rebuilt F-14D (R) jets are a good case study).

Russian Federation started airstrikes in Syria on September 30, a move hailed by Syrian government officials as an efficient step in the war against terrorism. The push against Raqqa, if it proves effective, would mark a significant setback for the Islamic State, USA officials said. He promised to pay 3 million euros ($3.42 million) to anyone who kills Assad and 2 million euros ($2.28 million) to anyone who kills Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, whose men are fighting alongside Syrian troops.

Thus far, US military officials have played down the possibility of air accidents in Syria.

Obama has said that Assad, who depends on Iranian and Russian military backing for his regime’s survival, must go for there to be any hope of peace.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad unexpectedly visited Moscow last week, where he met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin along with other top Russian officials. Regardless, the result is that the Russians are not quite matching the performance of U.S. Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps expeditionary forces.

As a student of US defense policy, “Ash Carter more than anyone knows that history looks fondly on secretaries who make decisions, whether they’re right decisions or wrong, in a timely manner and give the president good options”, Brimley said.