Islamic State crisis: US-led coalition unleashes wave of airstrikes on Raqqa

[webfact]

US-led coalition unleashes wave of airstrikes on Raqqa
ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-led coalition aircraft unleashed a wave of airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria in what the coalition said Sunday was one of its most sustained aerial operations carried out in Syria to date.

IS said at least 10 people were killed and many others wounded in the attacks which activists said triggered successive explosions that shook the city and created panic among residents. The U.S.-led coalition often targets IS-held towns and cities in Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were rare in their intensity.

In a statement, the coalition said it carried out 18 airstrikes throughout Raqqa province, destroying a number of IS vehicles and 16 bridges. An earlier statement said the attacks also destroyed vital IS-controlled structures and transit routes in Syria.

"The significant airstrikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq," said coalition spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Gilleran, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

"This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria, and it will have debilitating effects on Daesh's ability to move" from Raqqa, he said.

Raqqa is the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic caliphate declared a year ago by the Islamic State group in territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. The sustained airstrikes add pressure on the militants in Raqqa, still reeling from last month's loss of the border town of Tal Abyad to Kurdish fighters. The town on the Turkish border was a major avenue for commerce and smuggling for the group.

A militant website said 10 people were killed and dozens of others wounded. An IS-affiliated Facebook page said one civilian was among those killed and 10 were wounded including women and children. It also said the bombing destroyed several bridges.

The IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency released a video of what it said was the effects of shelling Saturday by a U.S. drone on Raqqa. It showed several wounded men on a stretcher and at least three young boys being treated for wounds at what appeared to be a hospital.

A Raqqa-based anti-IS activist network reported eight civilians were killed by the coalition airstrikes, including a 10-year-old child.

The casualty figures could not be independently confirmed.

The network, called Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, said at least one airstrike targeted a group of IS members in the city center. Another targeted an IS checkpoint while a third destroyed large parts of an IS-held brick factory in the city. It said seven bridges used by civilians inside the city were also destroyed.

In the remote northeastern city of Hassakeh, IS suicide bombers detonated an explosives-laden truck near a main power plant Sunday. State-run news agency SANA reported casualties and damage in the plant on the southern edge of the city.

Fighting has raged in Hassakeh since the IS group attacked several southern neighborhoods held by government troops earlier this month. The violence has forced tens of thousands of residents to flee. The predominantly Kurdish city was split between government forces and Kurdish fighters, who have been fighting the IS group separately.

In Iraq, a Defense Ministry statement said government forces repelled an IS attack Sunday morning on the town of Haditha and the nearby Haditha dam in Anbar province. At least 20 militants were killed in the failed attack, said the statement, which did not provide any further information.

Iraqi forces, backed by Shiite militias, have been struggling to recapture areas lost to the IS group in the country's west and north.

In May, the militant group scored a stunning victory, overrunning Ramadi, the provincial capital of western Anbar province. Yet, Haditha and some other towns remain under control of government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters.

In Lebanon, some 200 Kurdish nationals staged a demonstration in downtown Beirut in solidarity with their brethren in Syria who are fighting against IS militants.
___

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-06

[ezzra]

OR.... get a 100 super hackers, Chines or former soviet countries that have been proven the skill

to hack and steal everything, unleash them on ISIS money and supply resources, hack into

anything ISIS, banking, money movements, oil movements, who buys from them, who sells them,

and who funds them, and cut into those lines of information block, reroute and cause havoc, and

ISIS will be brought to it's knees within few months with no money or supplies...

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

follow the money!! It takes an enormous amount to fund something like IS. How did they get so big so fast? Where did the money come from? I notice IS doesn't seem to be causing too much trouble in Saudi. Just sayin. Would also explain why no one is talking about it.

Saudi's got away with their involvement in 9/11. You don't want to anger the paymasters. Especially with elections coming up since it now costs billions of dollars to run for US president.

[FangFerang]

OR.... get a 100 super hackers, Chines or former soviet countries that have been proven the skill

to hack and steal everything, unleash them on ISIS money and supply resources, hack into

anything ISIS, banking, money movements, oil movements, who buys from them, who sells them,

and who funds them, and cut into those lines of information block, reroute and cause havoc, and

ISIS will be brought to it's knees within few months with no money or supplies...

That is a very good idea, and I feel certain it was deliberated, considered, and permanently tabled. Unfortunately, it would not continue to fund the Western military-industrial complex.

[rethaier]

Wow, a wave of airstrikes padding the pockets of arms dealers killed at least 10 people. That must have really damaged IS. Moral is probably at an all time low. What a pitiful result this is at god knows what cost. Why boast about it, it is meaningless.

[pmarlowe]

Love the hacker idea. unfortunately, the Chinese won't do anything to help anything that the USA supports.

[JetsetBkk]

Wow, a wave of airstrikes padding the pockets of arms dealers killed at least 10 people. That must have really damaged IS. Moral is probably at an all time low. What a pitiful result this is at god knows what cost. Why boast about it, it is meaningless.

Indeed. 10 dead - that's about 5% of what they have done in the last few days. Whoop-dee-doo.

[wabothai]

IS is and cannot stopped because major well known players are funding them.

No choice but a cover up.

May be we should bring some of our leaders to justice and force the truth out of them.

[Nobb]

The more of these women and baby killers that die makes the world a safer place! ISIS was truly sent by the devil!

[Jimlove]

US ground troops in big numbers are needed but the cissy residing at Pennsylvania Ave. 1600 dont have the balls to act

[Credo]

US ground troops in big numbers are needed but the cissy residing at Pennsylvania Ave. 1600 dont have the balls to act

Personally, I think it takes more balls to not send in ground troops, but if ground troops are needed there are a whole bunch of other countries that can send them if they want to.

[Chicog]

OK UG, how would you fight IS?

[Ulysses G.]

Replace Barack Obama with a strong leader, who wants to win - to start with - and then arm the Kurds to the teeth with modern weapons and start arming them DIRECTLY instead of through Baghdad. LOTS more bombing sorties with special operators guiding them from the ground.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4083163807001/how-to-defeat-isis/?#sp=show-clips

[Chicog]

Replace Barack Obama with a strong leader, who wants to win - to start with - and then arm the Kurds to the teeth with modern weapons and start arming them DIRECTLY instead of through Baghdad. LOTS more bombing sorties with special operators guiding them from the ground.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4083163807001/how-to-defeat-isis/?#sp=show-clips

I think the only thing limiting strikes is the obvious desire to avoid civilian casualties (although for some reason the UK has not requested rights to overfly Syria). The fact is that IS can hide almost in plain sight.

However, I think there are already people on the ground lighting up targets, from Iran and from the coalition. And upping the bombing rate would up the civilian casualty rate, and I think that would help IS rather than hinder it. They keep talking about the areas IS "occupies", but they don't really seem to understand that IS have a lot of support in Sunni areas.

As for arming the Kurds, the biggest whingers are the Gulf Arabs, and I don't think they can be trusted to "arm the Kurds" when they have such an interest in IS defeating the Iraqi Shi'a. Arming the Kurds in Syria is a different story though. You would think after events of recent weeks in Kuwait and Saudi that they might be a bit circumspect, but sadly they aren't that bright.

I can't think of any other reason for throttling the supply of weapons to the Kurds in Norther Iraq other than the desire to keep Turkey on side.

And in Syria, it seems that the US still want to get rid of Assad, with the Russians attempting to broker a peace deal that keeps him in power and helps him fight IS.

Eliminating his enemies keeps him in power, and I've always been of the impression that the US wants a new hole in that Shi'a crescent, and Israel wouldn't balk at Hizbollah's supply lines being constricted, which they would be were Assad to fall.

In fact, if Syria now falls to the Sunni, I would think Hizbollah would then become a bit of a target.... and if they go, Israel next.

Complex little mess, isn't it?

Edited July 6, 2015 by Chicog

[NeverSure]

If WWII had been fought the way ISIS is, Hitler's Gestapo would have its headquarters in London today.

[up-country_sinclair]

US ground troops in big numbers are needed but the cissy residing at Pennsylvania Ave. 1600 dont have the balls to act

Personally, I think it takes more balls to not send in ground troops, but if ground troops are needed there are a whole bunch of other countries that can send them if they want to.

It is my understanding that Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest military spender on the planet, and they are likely the country next in Daesh's cross hairs. Daesh is Saudi Arabia's problem.

A total of four Americans (all living in the ME) have been killed by Daesh. Daesh is not America's problem.

[up-country_sinclair]

Replace Barack Obama with a strong leader, who wants to win - to start with - and then arm the Kurds to the teeth with modern weapons and start arming them DIRECTLY

Where to begin?

You and your fellow clan members will look for any reason to denigrate the president, but why should the President of the United States be leading on this? Daesh is not America's problem. And only the most strident of partisans would ever claim that the President of the United States doesn't want to "win" against Daesh.

And as far as arming the Kurds "to the teeth" goes, do you even know the slightest thing about the history of the United States and its involvement in the ME? It's becoming increasingly clear that you do not. At all. One of the recent groups that the US armed "to the teeth" ended up becoming Al Qaeda. How did that turn out?

[Chicog]

If WWII had been fought the way ISIS is, Hitler's Gestapo would have its headquarters in London today.

WWII didn't have suicide bombers mixing in the general population.

Another thing is that boots on the ground might be more effective, but I suspect the American public are tired of seeing their young being brought home in bodybags after fighting what is seen as someone else's war.

[JetsetBkk]

Replace Barack Obama with a strong leader, who wants to win - to start with - and then arm the Kurds to the teeth with modern weapons and start arming them DIRECTLY instead of through Baghdad. LOTS more bombing sorties with special operators guiding them from the ground.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4083163807001/how-to-defeat-isis/?#sp=show-clips

But... but... he's a really strong leader. Look what he said to all those West Point graduates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0C_FvDymfc

Quote: "The question each of you will face is not whether America will lead, but how we will lead. America must always lead on the world stage. If we don't no one else will."

See? That proves it.

[/sarcasm]

[cookee68]

Even ISIS are on Facebook, what is this world coming too

[Chicog]

Even ISIS are on Facebook, what is this world coming too

Anyone can open a Facebook account you know.

And anyone can report it.

[meinanzi]

US ground troops in big numbers are needed but the cissy residing at Pennsylvania Ave. 1600 dont have the balls to act

Personally, I think it takes more balls to not send in ground troops, but if ground troops are needed there are a whole bunch of other countries that can send them if they want to.

The bombing of German cities in WWII, the air strikes during the exhaustive peace negotiations in the Korean War, and the bombing of North Vietnam all FAILED to end those wars.There is no substitute for boots on the ground but countires have failed to learn from history on this issue.

[Credo]

US ground troops in big numbers are needed but the cissy residing at Pennsylvania Ave. 1600 dont have the balls to act

Personally, I think it takes more balls to not send in ground troops, but if ground troops are needed there are a whole bunch of other countries that can send them if they want to.

The bombing of German cities in WWII, the air strikes during the exhaustive peace negotiations in the Korean War, and the bombing of North Vietnam all FAILED to end those wars.There is no substitute for boots on the ground but countires have failed to learn from history on this issue.

I am not arguing about whether they are needed or not. It just appears that the US is not willing to use ground troops. Perhaps a few other countries would like to put some boots on the ground?

The analogies you gave are not exactly relevant.