Three Top ISIS Commanders Reportedly Killed

December 19, 2014

US, Kurds Make Gains Against Islamic State Group

A member of the Kurdish forces stands in an area damaged by an improvised explosive device placed by Islamic State militants that killed several Peshmerga fighters and injured dozens late Wednesday, when they pushed towards Sinjar Mountain

U.S. officials say airstrikes in Iraq have killed three top leaders of the Islamic State group, while Kurdish fighters also reported major gains against the Sunni extremists.

Defense Department officials said Thursday the gains are hampering the militant group’s ability to command and control areas it occupies in Iraq and Syria.

Among those identified as killed were Haji Mutazz, a deputy to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; Abd al-Basit, the Islamic State military emir in Iraq; and Radwin Talib, a mid-level official serving as the emir of Mosul.

The officials say the men were killed during airstrikes conducted between mid-November and early December.

Also Thursday, Kurdish forces said they recaptured a large amount of territory from Islamic State fighters and broke a siege on a mountain where members of the Yazidi minority group have been stranded.

Kurdistan Regional Security Council chief Masrour Barzani said in a statement that Kurdish peshmerga fighters opened a corridor to Sinjar Mountain during a two-day offensive.

Thousands of Yazidis were stranded on the mountain in September, prompting fears of a mass killing at the hands of the Islamic extremists. U.S. airstrikes and airdrops eventually freed thousands of the Yazidis. But many have again become trapped on the mountain in recent weeks.

The Kurdish statement said the peshmerga recaptured eight villages during what it called the largest and most successful Kurdish mission to date. The peshmerga offensive was backed by a heavy campaign of U.S.-led airstrikes.

U.S. military officials Thursday credited the more than 1,300 airstrikes and a stronger Iraqi security force for having a “significant effect” on the ability of the Islamic State group to operate in Iraq. But a top commander warned the fight is far from over, adding that it might take three years or more to rout the militants.

The commander of the Combined Joint Task Force for Operation Inherent Resolve said those strikes are taking a toll.

“Daesh [the Islamic State] has been halted and is transitioning to the defense and is attempting to hold what they currently have,” he said, referring to the Islamic State by its Arabic acronym.

U.S. Army Lieutenant General James Terry called the group’s strategic shift a clear departure from what it was doing before airstrikes began in August. “They’re (Islamic State) having a hard time in terms of communicating right now, in terms of resupply,” he said.

Terry said that is hurting IS’s ability to push out propaganda, recruit new fighters and even spread fear. 

“You can go to social media and see some of the stuff that’s coming out of places like Mosul in relationship to the inability of the self-declared caliphate to govern,” Terry noted.

Another authoritative source, Jane’s Intelligence Review, reported last week there has been no significant change in the tempo of Islamic State operations since airstrikes began. According to Jane’s, IS advances in Samarra indicate the group’s offensive capabilities and control of Sunni areas have not been degraded.

In Sinjar, where coalition air support has been backing Kurdish fighters, there is optimism. “With the help of our friends and the alliance, we will evict them from all Iraq,” a Peshmerga colonel said.

But coalition officials are cautious, and the challenge remains of bringing more of Iraq’s Sunni tribes back into the fight on the side of a government that once alienated them.

There are also questions about the Islamic State’s hold in Syria where U.S. plans to find and train a moderate opposition force have yet to get under way.

Lieutenant General Terry says all in all, the fight has a long way to go.