[anarchist23]

While nominally operating as military advisors to the Iraqi forces, the US servicemen taking part in the assault on Mosul have been involved in front-line fighting and an undisclosed number have suffered battle injuries, according to military officials.
US soldiers “have come under fire at different times, they have returned fire at different times in and around Mosul,” said Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, the Baghdad-based spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

“When someone is shooting at you, that is combat. Yes. That has happened,” Dorrian said during a press briefing via video link on Tuesday, when asked by Washington-based journalists to clarify if that meant that US troops were actually fighting.

US-backed Iraqi forces advance on ISIS-held areas of Mosul, as 750,000 civilians remain trapped

President Barack Obama returned a small contingent of US troops to Iraq in 2014, on the promise that they would avoid direct combat. There are currently 450 conventional soldiers and a classified number of special operators embedded with elite Iraqi forces around Mosul, calling in airstrikes, training troops, and helping with battle tactics.

Despite an announcement by a senior US Army official this week that US servicemen would be embedded closer to the theater of operations, Dorrian said that US troops were still staying out of danger.

"They are directed to try and be positioned where [combat] is a rarity and unlikely to occur," said Dorrian, noting that “our forces are quite capable of defending themselves."

Nonetheless, a US official told CNN that some American troops had been wounded in the battles around Iraq’s second-biggest city, and had to be evacuated. The unnamed Pentagon representative declined to give specific numbers, to avoid giving the adversaries a tactical or psychological advantage.

The US Defense Department says that 31 US troops have been wounded in Iraq and Syria since the anti-ISIS operation was authorized in the summer of 2014, though the casualty list is unlikely to be completely up to date.

The revelations come on the heels of a statement by Army General Joseph Votel, head of the US Central Command, that “it could be that we take on a larger burden ourselves" in the battle for Mosul, adding that he was “concerned about maintaining momentum."

President Donald Trump has also demanded an acceleration of the campaign, which is being slowed down not only by dogged resistance from the jihadist forces, but also apprehension about an estimated 750,000 civilians who remain trapped within the city.

https://www.rt.com/usa/378404-mosul-us-troops-wounded/

[Suntzu]

The Iraqi troops have the French disease, they tend to run away or surrender.

[Joka]

Syria is a sovereign nation and the United States has no business being there. Russia is there by Syrian invitation, big difference.

[Donna]

Syria is a sovereign nation and the United States has no business being there. Russia is there by Syrian invitation, big difference.

US is there by Iraqi invitation.

[Joka]

US is there by Iraqi invitation.

It all has to do with Syria right next door. There are plenty of Iraqi American opposition parties within the new government of Iraq but I'm betting they've been silenced.

Mosul is right by the Iraqi Syrian border.

[Zagadka]

The Iraqi troops have the French disease, they tend to run away or surrender.

The Iraqi troops have been fighting a pretty good fight against an ingrained, psychotic resistance that they were not capable of doing only years ago. They're making large and significant gains, and Iraq is a relatively stable state, which I would have doubted was possible years ago.

Certainly far, far better than the lackeys we left in Afghanistan.

Syria is a sovereign nation and the United States has no business being there. Russia is there by Syrian invitation, big difference.

The question is what happens once the Iraqis/whoever else chases ISIS into Syria entirely. Syria isn't exactly going to be open to international forces running around while they are also in a civil war.

[Joka]

The Iraqi troops have been fighting a pretty good fight against an ingrained, psychotic resistance that they were not capable of doing only years ago. They're making large and significant gains, and Iraq is a relatively stable state, which I would have doubted was possible years ago.

Certainly far, far better than the lackeys we left in Afghanistan.


The question is what happens once the Iraqis/whoever else chases ISIS into Syria entirely. Syria isn't exactly going to be open to international forces running around while they are also in a civil war.

Well, the goal is to destabilize Syria, right?

A bigger question is if China will make good with its threat of boots on Syrian soil in conjunction with the Russians and Syrian government. There has been some interesting moves played by the Chinese within the United Nations on the issue.

[Zagadka]

Well, the goal is to destabilize Syria, right?

Depends wildly on who you are. Or how you feel about Assad's regime. If you're willing to compromise with Russia for their ends. How you want to handle the international terrorist cells spinning off around the world. How you handle the resulting regional borders, in this instance primarily between Iraq and Syria, since ISIS has messed up the borders.

Given that Trump tends to take the most simplistic action possible, wants to please Russia, and doesn't give a flying f* about human rights (which isn't to say that the rebels are innocents)...

[Joka]

Depends wildly on who you are. Or how you feel about Assad's regime. If you're willing to compromise with Russia for their ends. How you want to handle the international terrorist cells spinning off around the world. How you handle the resulting regional borders, in this instance primarily between Iraq and Syria, since ISIS has messed up the borders.

Given that Trump tends to take the most simplistic action possible, wants to please Russia, and doesn't give a flying f* about human rights (which isn't to say that the rebels are innocents)...

Indeed, have you ever studied the history of ISIS? A fascinating topic of how such a large organization of terrorists came out of nowhere.

[Zagadka]

I haven't spent a lot of time studying ISIS, but they weren't exactly overnight and they aren't exactly the only such threat that could pop up. The vacuum created between Iraq and Syria (in civil wars) made something inevitable. I thought it would be a war with the Kurds. But I am not a specialist on the ME.

What bothered me a lot was how quick people were to blame Obama/Hillary for warmongering, then simultaneously blame them for not preventing ISIS.

[skinster]

Indeed, have you ever studied the history of ISIS? A fascinating topic of how such a large organization of terrorists came out of nowhere.

USA! USA! USA!

[Decky]

ISIS= Israeli Secret Intelligence Service.

[skinster]

The IDF cooperates with Al-Nusra Front in Syria

[anarchist23]

Israelis use the same methods as ISIS.

Securing themselves as the unique and dominant authority.
Troubling reports have the Islamic State destroying Christian churches and relics, most prominently those of the Assyrian Church of the East. Israel has also tried to consolidate its ethnic appearance.
Meron Rappoport, History Erased, Haaretz, Jul. 5, 2007 reports that "during the 1950s, the nascent state and IDF set about destroying historical sites left behind by other cultures, particularly Muslims." Rappaport continues with....

According to a book by Dr. Meron Benvenisti, of the 160 mosques in the Palestinian villages incorporated into Israel under the armistice agreements, fewer than 40 are still standing. What is unusual about the case of Mash'had Nabi Hussein is that the demolition is documented, and direct responsibility was taken by none other than the GOC Southern Command at the time, an officer named Moshe Dayan. The documentation shows that the holy site was blown up deliberately, as part of a broader operation that included at least two additional mosques, one in Yavneh and the other in Ashdod.

.

[Decky]

I wouldn't call it cooperation. Does my head "cooperate" with my hand when it reaches out for a cider? The IDF, commands the jihadists Skinster.

[skinster]

Yeah I know, I was just copying from the headline.

Also, congrats on your new sig btw.

[Decky]

He said it not me.

[skinster]

That's why it's greet.

[Decky]

I did add it quite a while ago actually. Have you been ignoring me?

[skinster]

I didnae notice and I was also busy this week with work and partying and work and partying.

Sorry.