Pentagon leadership has signaled a more interventionist approach in the campaign to defeat ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Fifteen months after the first airstrikes by coalition air forces, Iraqi forces have not recaptured significant territory, and the situation in Syria remains fluid and confused. According to the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) this week, just over 5,000 airstrikes have now been conducted over Iraq, and nearly 2,700 over Syria.
The new approach will include additional strikes by US and coalition aircraft, now joined by the Iraqi F-16s that were eventually delivered to Balad airbase. It will also include more raids by U.S. special forces joining their Iraqi counterparts, such as the one that rescued 70 prisoners from an ISIL jail near Hawra, Iraq, on October 22. That raid was enabled by two MH-60M Black Hawks and three MH-47G Chinooks of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The external mold lines and transmission system of the MH-60Ms had been modified for low-observability, similar to those employed in the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in 2011.
But the change of strategy will also co-locate a greater number of conventional U.S. troops with Iraqi units for logistical support and “situational awareness intelligence,” acccording to Gen. Joseph Dunford, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Most of the 3,000-plus American troops in Iraq now are located at higher command levels to “train, advise and assist.” Officials in Washington have also suggested that the U.S. Army may make more extensive use of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters that are deployed to defend U.S. interests in the Baghdad area.
The targeting of airstrikes in OIR has been done without the help of experienced forward air controllers, or joint tactical air controllers (JTACs). But this has led to less-than-optimum prosecution of potential targets, with aircrews required to work with rules of engagement that have been deliberately tightened because no on-scene JTACs are present. U.S. commanders have admitted that weapons are being dropped on only one in four of combat air missions launched during the campaign.
At the recent AFA Conference in Washington, Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of U.S. Air Combat Command, attempted to justify the lack of JTAC “boots on the ground” in response to a query from AIN. “This is not Operation Desert Storm or Enduring Freedom; it’s a complex fight,” he said. The aircrew “still have situational awareness,” he claimed. With respect to the ground forces in Iraq and Syria, “you don’t know where their motivation lies,” he added.
In a presentation to the AFA conference, Carlisle claimed “the lowest civilian casualty rate ever” for OIR. But, he continued, “our operations tempo is incredible…we’re burning out our airmen.” In addition to combat air and ISR squadrons, the U.S. Air Force also deploys airlift squadrons to support OIR and recently dropped 50 tons of ammunition to opposition fighters in Syria.
Meanwhile, the OIR coalition has signed a deconfliction agreement with Russian forces, which have continued to strike targets in Syria since joining the conflict in late September. In media briefings, U.S. officials claimed that the Russians are using “mainly dumb bombs” in their airstrikes, as well as cluster munitions. The OIR spokesman described these operations as “reckless and irresponsible,” and further noted that Russian airstrikes are mainly targeting forces opposed to President Assad. “Only a small fraction of their strikes have been in areas where ISIL is operating,” he added.
