US says ‘high-value’ ISIS members killed in Anbar
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The spokesman for the US-led coalition against the Islamic State said that two "high-value" ISIS members were killed in Anbar last Friday.
"On May 13th, we struck and killed two high-value individuals," Col. Steve Warren told reporters at a news briefing from Baghdad on Wednesday.
The two men in question were Abu Hamza and Abu Sufiyah.
"Abu Hamza was a mid-level military commander who was responsible for the area between Nasiriyah and Juba," Warren explained. "Hamza was a former AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq) member who we know planned and conducted attacks against Americans during Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Since the rise of ISIS Hamza "has been responsible for coordinating ISIL fighters, reinforcements and finances in the Euphrates River Valley," Warren said, using another acronym for ISIS.
Abu Sufiyah, Warren said, was "responsible for staging chemical attacks in the Euphrates River Valley."
Warren said that the US has, since the beginning of 2015, "targeted and killed more than 120 high-value individuals in ISIL's attack network."
Early last month, Warren told reporters: "I hope al-Baghdadi watches these press conferences."
He said he wanted the ISIS leader “to know that we are hunting him and we will find him just like we found his mentor, (Abu Musab) Zarqawi, and killed him, just like we found the grand master of terrorism, Osama bin Laden. We killed him."
Presently the Seventh Iraqi Army units and their Sunni tribal allies are making very significant progress against that group in Anbar province.
"In Anbar, as part of Operation Desert Lynx, the Seventh Iraqi Army and Sunni tribal fighters liberated Juba and have progressed an additional 25 kilometers north through Barwanah," Warren told reporters.
He reported that they encountered "generally light resistance, comprised of IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and small arms fire."
While the killings of Abu Hamza and Abu Sufiyah are significant, Warren believes the most important development in Anbar in recent days was the Iraqi Security Forces' (ISF) advance into the town of Rutbah.
"Although a small town, Rutbah has out-sized strategic value," Warren siad. "Rutbah lies on the main route between Baghdad and Jordan, and opening it will impact the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and will deny ISIL a critical support zone as well."
The offensive is being spearheaded by the elite Iraqi Counter-terror Service, which also played a key role in forcing ISIS from Ramadi last December.
Warren applauded that counter-terror services ability to work "closely with several other forces.
"Over the past several months, we have been preparing these forces specifically for this operation with equipment and advanced mission-specific training," he said.
Warren also referred to the recent liberation of Bashir village from ISIS when "an elite group of Peshmerga commandos conducted an early morning raid to destroy ISIL positions along the forward line of troops."
"A dozen fighters, along with some machine guns and mortars met their maker that day," he remarked.
Warren then said the US-led air campaign is "chipping away at our enemy," by striking his various assets, everything from financial reserves to top members of its leadership. This in tandem with building up allied ground forces.
"As we weaken our enemy, we're strengthening our friends," he said.
Regarding America's Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS Warren said 1,100 Peshmerga soldiers completed their training over the course of the last month in the Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil. Additionally, in Syria the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are concluding their training of another 200 anti-ISIS Arab fighters.
"On May 13th, we struck and killed two high-value individuals," Col. Steve Warren told reporters at a news briefing from Baghdad on Wednesday.
The two men in question were Abu Hamza and Abu Sufiyah.
"Abu Hamza was a mid-level military commander who was responsible for the area between Nasiriyah and Juba," Warren explained. "Hamza was a former AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq) member who we know planned and conducted attacks against Americans during Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Since the rise of ISIS Hamza "has been responsible for coordinating ISIL fighters, reinforcements and finances in the Euphrates River Valley," Warren said, using another acronym for ISIS.
Abu Sufiyah, Warren said, was "responsible for staging chemical attacks in the Euphrates River Valley."
Warren said that the US has, since the beginning of 2015, "targeted and killed more than 120 high-value individuals in ISIL's attack network."
Early last month, Warren told reporters: "I hope al-Baghdadi watches these press conferences."
He said he wanted the ISIS leader “to know that we are hunting him and we will find him just like we found his mentor, (Abu Musab) Zarqawi, and killed him, just like we found the grand master of terrorism, Osama bin Laden. We killed him."
Presently the Seventh Iraqi Army units and their Sunni tribal allies are making very significant progress against that group in Anbar province.
"In Anbar, as part of Operation Desert Lynx, the Seventh Iraqi Army and Sunni tribal fighters liberated Juba and have progressed an additional 25 kilometers north through Barwanah," Warren told reporters.
He reported that they encountered "generally light resistance, comprised of IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and small arms fire."
While the killings of Abu Hamza and Abu Sufiyah are significant, Warren believes the most important development in Anbar in recent days was the Iraqi Security Forces' (ISF) advance into the town of Rutbah.
"Although a small town, Rutbah has out-sized strategic value," Warren siad. "Rutbah lies on the main route between Baghdad and Jordan, and opening it will impact the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and will deny ISIL a critical support zone as well."
The offensive is being spearheaded by the elite Iraqi Counter-terror Service, which also played a key role in forcing ISIS from Ramadi last December.
Warren applauded that counter-terror services ability to work "closely with several other forces.
"Over the past several months, we have been preparing these forces specifically for this operation with equipment and advanced mission-specific training," he said.
Warren also referred to the recent liberation of Bashir village from ISIS when "an elite group of Peshmerga commandos conducted an early morning raid to destroy ISIL positions along the forward line of troops."
"A dozen fighters, along with some machine guns and mortars met their maker that day," he remarked.
Warren then said the US-led air campaign is "chipping away at our enemy," by striking his various assets, everything from financial reserves to top members of its leadership. This in tandem with building up allied ground forces.
"As we weaken our enemy, we're strengthening our friends," he said.
Regarding America's Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS Warren said 1,100 Peshmerga soldiers completed their training over the course of the last month in the Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil. Additionally, in Syria the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are concluding their training of another 200 anti-ISIS Arab fighters.