NATO reiterates support to Iraq as US Delta forces begin counter-ISIS operations

NATO would support Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and help destroy the group, said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on his visit to Iraq on Tuesday where he met with Iraqi prime minister and defense chief Khaled al-Obaidi.

Stoltenberg reportedly hailed the Iraqi forces for combating ISIS and pushing it back in many parts of the country.

Stoltenberg’s visit comes amidst another important development; the beginning of special operations against ISIS by the United States Army’s elite Delta Force.

A US official confided to CNN that Delta have been setting up safe houses and informant networks while coordinating with Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga units. This Expeditionary Targeting Force (ETF) will carry out raids into enemy ISIS-held territory to free prisoners being held by that group or to abduct its key members.

“The only thing I’ll say is [ETF] is in position, it is having an effect and operating, and I expect it to be a very effective part of our accelerating campaign,” US Secretary of State Ash Carter said on Monday.

They will make ISIS “fear that anywhere, anytime, it may be struck,” he added.

Delta had previously raided an ISIS compound in Syria killing an ISIS operative named Abu Sayyaf and taking his wife prisoner. Also a joint Delta-Peshmerga raid was carried out against an ISIS prison in Hawija last October to free the prisoners after intelligence indicated their execution was imminent.

While discussing the plan last December Carter said that while Delta “is in fact working only in Iraq,” it “is prepared to go into Syria if it gathers enough intelligence to warrant a mission.”

In Syria’s northeastern Kurdish region the US has a small number of special forces who are helping the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against ISIS. They were reportedly helping them coordinate their recent offensive against ISIS-occupied Shadadi, and also direct supporting coalition airstrikes, which the SDF were able to liberate in three days last month.