Kurds will be allowed to keep US weapons for now

Jim Mattis, US Secretary of Defense, said that the US will continue to provide weapons to Kurdish fighters in Syria even after the Islamic State has been ousted from its last main stronghold in Syria Raqqa.

The US had earlier promised that it would take back weapons that it supplied to the YPG after Turkey expressed alarm over arming Kurds on its border. The YPG, Peoples' Protection Units, are regarded by Turkey as a terrorist group but the US regards them as a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State(IS) in Syria and has supported them with arms and training. The YPG are the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the US in Syria. The US said the weapons would be returned after the defeat of the Islamic State. The US is also to present Turkey with a monthly inventory of weapons that the US provides to the YPG. The Turkish defense ministry said that the first inventory had already been sent to Turkey.

Mattis now says that the defeat of the Islamic State in Raqqa does not mean that the Kurds will be required to return the weapons provided to them. Mattis claimed that the US had made it clear all along "we're going to equip them for the fight. If they have another fight, and they need, you know, the light trucks they have been using...we'll get them that". Mattis was also non-commital when asked if all the weapons the Kurds received had to be returned Mattis said: "We'll do what we can." However, Mattis did say that as fighting goes on the US will collect weapons, or take certain weapons back and provide the Kurds with others: "When they don't need certain things any more, we'll replace those with something they do need."

The US has not publicly revealed the amount or even specific types of weapons provided for the Kurds. However, anonymous officials have said that 120 mm mortars, machine guns, ammunition and light armoured vehicles are most likely what was sent. The shipments began in May and the Pentagon said only that small arms and ammunition were included. The officials said that artillery and surface-to-air missiles were not provided.

There are already clashes taking place between Turkish-backed troops in northern Syria and Kurdish forces. The Kurdish canton of Afrin has been repeatedly shelled by the pro-Turkish forces. Fire has been returned by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG confirmed that attacks had increased in the area. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights observed that there had been a build up of Turkish troops in the area and that it appears that they are planning a wide-scale military offensive in the northern Aleppo countryside.

Defeat of the Islamic State in Syria will not be end of conflict

While the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces are confronting the Islamic State in eastern Syria and beginning to enter the strategic city of Raqqa, the Syrian Army has been taking control of positions in their rear further west.

Around the end of May , the Syrian Army captured almost 100 square kilometers in the desert sparsely populated Badia area — a huge region that stretches to the southern border of Syria with Jordan and Iraq. Assad forces took over the country's largest phosphate mine and the strategic highway from the ancient city of Palmyra to Damascus. Both Assad forces and rebels, some supported by the U.S., are racing to gain control of territory as the Islamic State is forced to retreat.

The U.S. has insisted on focusing on the defeat of the Islamic State. However, the U.S. is now making it clear that it will also defend the rebels it supports from Assad attacks. At the time of the Assad advance, Al-Baraa Fares, a spokesperson for Free Syrian Army (FSA) group Mitaghawir al-Thawra (MAT), said: “The coalition is a partner of ours in the war against Daesh [the Islamic State], but when it comes to fighting the regime and its foreign militias, [the coalition] is not our partner. The role of the international coalition is to train members of MAT and to provide logistical support, weapons, ammunition and all that is needed to eliminate the terrorist Daesh." However. the U.S. has now made it clear that it will defend rebels that it supports from attacks by Assad forces.

This appears to be a new and dangerous emphasis that will inevitably give rise to new clashes and more involvement by the U.S. in the Syria war. The Assad regime is not likely to give up attacking rebels who are enemies of the Assad regime and will attack them when they get a chance. The U.S. has already shot down an Assad jet because it was said to be dropping bombs close to rebels supported by the U.S. The Assad regime said that it was on a mission against the Islamic State. Russians claim that the hotline was not used to talk to them before the plane was downed. As a result of the incident, Russia has declared that coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates will be considered targets, a clear escalation of tensions between Russia and the U.S.-led coalition.

The U.S. has a base in the Badia numbering about 100 special forces based in a small military outpost near the Tanf border crossing between Syria and Iraq. The base trains fighters of vetted forces to fight against the Islamic State. However the Free Syrian Army sees things differently and adopted a campaign titled "Badia Volcano" a campaign to "cleanse the Badia of Iranian and foreign militia". These militias are of course Assad allies. No doubt the groups involved in the campaign will demand U.S. support as they battle against pro-Assad Hezbollah and Iranian forces. The Iranians have upped their involvement in Syria by launching missile attacks on the eastern Syrian city of Deir rl-Zour. It was said to be in retaliation for an earlier attack in Iran on the parliament claimed by the Islamic State that killed at least 18 people. Within the last 12 days the U.S. has shot down two Iranian drones near the outpost of al-Tanf.

The U.S. maintains a defensive area around that Tanf base with a radius of 55km within which it will not permit the regime or its allied forces to enter. Earlier in the month, coalition warplanes attacked a group of tanks. armored vehicles and others who were advancing towards the outpost. In other words, the U.S.-led coalition has defined a zone that it occupies as off limits to the country to which it belongs. It can hardly expect to avoid further clashes. Yet a CENTCOM spokesperson said: “The continued armed and hostile presence of forces inside the de-confliction zone is unacceptable and threatening to Coalition forces. Coalition forces are prepared to defend themselves if pro-regime forces refuse to vacate the de-confliction zone.” The regime may be trying to re-establish trade links between Iraq and parts of Syria or even for troops and supplies to come from Iran.

The increased conflict appears to be confined to areas where regime forces, rebels and the Islamic State are in close contact. It may be that as the Islamic State loses more and more territories conflict could arise between forces loyal to Assad and the Syrian Democratic Forces supported by the U.S. In some areas of the country, there is rebuilding and cessation of hostilities as the enclosed video shows.

US-supported mostly Kurdish forces enter Syrian city of Raqqa

(June 6)The US-backed Syrian Democratic(SDF) forces have entered into the city of Raqqa in Syria long held by the Islamic State(IS). The offensive is the conclusion of seven months of planning with air support from the US-led coalition.

The offensive has also seen the SDF a multi-ethnic group but dominated by the Kurdish YPG (People's Protection Units) , receive support from US military advisers and weapons deliveries. Today, June 6, the SDF broke into the east edge of the city for the first time and are fighting street battles inside the city.

SDF commander Rojda Felat said:"Our forces entered the city of Raqqa from the eastern district of Al-Meshleb. They are fighting street battles inside Raqqa now, and we have experience in urban warfare." There were also reports of fierce clashes in the northern outskirts of the city as well according to Felat. Raqqa is on the Euphrates river. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights also reported that the SDF had already seized a number of positions inside the city.

Head of the Observatory Abdel Rahman claimed: "They have taken control of a checkpoint in Al-Meshleb, as well as a number of buildings. The advance came after heavy air strikes by the US-led coalition." Access routes from the city to the west, north, and east have been cut off. SDF spokesperson Talai Sello said: "We declare today the start of the great battle to liberate the city of Raqqa, the so-called capital of terrorism and terrorists. With the international coalition's warplanes and the state-of-the-art weapons they provided to us, we will seize Raqqa from Daesh," Sello told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS. With the international coalition's warplanes and the state-of-the-art weapons they provided to us, we will seize Raqqa from Daesh'"

The coalition air strikes on Raqqa have taken a toll on civilians. Yesterday, the Observatory claimed an air strike had struck and killed 21 civilians as they fled the city across the Euphrates on a dinghy. However Rahman pointed out the same route was being used by fleeing IS fighters. It is estimated that there are about half a million civilians in Raqqa about 80,000 displaced from other areas. Thousands have managed to flee to areas held by the SDF.

The SDF operation to capture Raqqa is called the Wrath of Euphrates. The International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve announced: "​The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their Syrian Arab Coalition partners launched the offensive to unseat ISIS [Daesh in Arabic] from its so-called 'capital' Raqqa in northern Syria." Raqqa was captured by the IS back in January of 2014. The battle to retake it could be long and bloody but would represent a major step forward in defeating the IS in Syria. The US Department of Defense also announced the offensive on its website: “The offensive would deliver a decisive blow to the idea of ISIS as a physical caliphate." The offensive is also covered in another recent Digital Journal article.

Turkey had hoped to be part of the offensive but is not. Turkish president Erdogan is angry that the US continues to support and arm the YPG whom he regards as a terrorist group. He wants Kurdish troops to remain east of the Euphrates river.

Syrian rebels take vast desert area from the Islamic State

Large areas of southern Syria near the Jordanian border have been seized by Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups from the Islamic State (IS)

The advances will help prevent IS fighters from regrouping near Damascus and the Jordanian border as they face defeats in the city of Raqqa. Some also may be leaving Iraq as they lose Mosul as well. Western intelligence sources worry that fleeing IS militants would be able to find a safe haven in the vast desert area along the Jordanian border with Syria. The rebels in the area are receiving military aid that is funneled through Jordan and overseen by the CIA. The gains are the culmination of an operation that began last December as described in this article.

Talas al Salameh, commander of the largest of the FSA groups said: "Extensive areas have fallen into our hands. (Islamic State) has been pushed out of them in heavy clashes in 16 days of battles.m (Islamic State) had cut roads and were in control and had been positioned in former Syrian army bases with a strong presence and with heavy armor. We cut links between their areas and as a result they began to retreat." The Islamic State fighters are coming under increasing pressure as they face campaigns by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Front near Raqqa as well as the Russian-backed Syrian army and Turkish-backed FSA groups.

Salameh said that the IS had withdrawn hundreds of troops from areas through which the FSA advanced. He suggested that they were redeploying to help defend Raqqa and Deir al-Zor province to the east. The area captured is sparsely populated all the way from about 50 kilometers from Damascus to the borders with Iraq and Jordan a desert area known as the Badia. Salameh said that if Raqqa and Mosul fell the IS would have been retreating to the area they had just captured. Said Seif an official with another FSA faction claimed that 250 square kilometers (96 square miles) had been taken in the Badia alone. He said that at least 117 of his fighters had been killed over the last few months from assaults and ambushes by the IS militants.

The areas taken are some of the longest held IS positions in southern Syria. The current operation is called "We Have Saddled Up to Cleanse the Desert". Recent operations had been coordinated with US-led coalition forces and had air support. A military source said IS fighers were able to leave through the vast, sparsely populated area in individual cars and motorcycles.

Raqqa may become part of the Kurdish autonomous area of Syria when liberated

The northern city of Raqqa now occupied by the Islamic State (IS) is expected to become part of a decentralized Kurdish-run system of government, once it is liberated, according to a leading Kurdish politician.

Raqqa, on the Euphrates is the Islamic State's main urban base left in Syria but is under siege by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) an alliance of Kurds with some Arabs. The YPG a Syrian Kurdish militia already controls considerable territory in northern Syria and Kurdish groups are working to establish a form of decentralized government in Kurdish-controlled areas. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group and the development is causing alarm in Turkey. Turkey is angry that the US is supporting the Kurds. They consider the YPG simply an extension of Kurdish groups they are fighting within Turkey..

Saleh Muslim co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish PYD party said although it would be up to the people of Raqqa what the future of the city should be once it is liberated from the IS, he thought the city would join the "democratic federal' system. Muslim said in a telephone interview:"We expect (this) because our project is for all Syria ... and Raqqa can be part of it. Our only concern is that the people of Raqqa are the ones who take the decision on everything." The Kurdish system was never negotiated with the Assad regime. The US is backing Kurdish forces in the area. Turkey objects to having a de facto Kurdish government in northern Syria and will be even angrier if the US helps the Kurds extend the territory under their control. The Turks have already invaded part of northern Syria west of the Euphrates clearing the Islamic State from the border area. They insist that Kurds should stay east of the Euphrates.

The Kurds may have trouble convincing locals that they should join the Kurdish federated system: " But while the YPG had an alliance with some local Raqqa resistance forces aimed at expelling ISIS at the start of the military offensive, many of those opposition factions have cut ties with the Kurds, complaining that the YPG is trying to dictate terms to them. That might hurt their attempt at selling Raqqa on joining the autonomous region, though they may not be given a choice at any rate. " Meanwhile fighting has resumed at the Tabqa dam about 25 miles upstream even though the IS has put out dire warnings that the dam is in danger of collapse. US forces dismiss the warnings. It is always possible that the IS could decide to sabotage the dam.

Turkish military claims to have killed more than 70 Kurdish fighters in Syria in one week.

A statement by the Turkish military claimed that Turkish troops have killed at least 71 fighters from Kurdish YPG during the past week in Syria. They also claimed that since invading Syria they have killed 425 Kurds.

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Wikipedia, describes the YPG as follows:

The People's Protection Units (Kurdish: Yekîneyên Parastina Gel‎, یەکینەکانی پاراستنی گەل pronounced [jɑkinæjen pɑrɑstinɑ gæl]; YPG) is the militia of the Democratic Union Party, the primary component of Rojava's Syrian Democratic Forces, and the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) according to the Turkish government.

The Turkish government considers the YPG as a terrorist group but not the Americans who support the YPG. The YPG are part of the umbrella group Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF) that includes more than Kurds. The U.S. has been attempting to try to prevent clashes between the YPG and Turkish troops as discussed in a recent Digital Journal article.

The US already has embedded a number of Army Rangers in the city of Manbij to forestall any Turkish attack. The Turks originally focused on Islamic State targets but have always said that they intend to eliminate not just the Islamic State but the YPG as well. However, the U.S. considers the YPG to be a key ally in defeating the Islamic State. Turkish officials have expressed anger that the U.S. claims that the Kurds are not all terrorists insisting the the U.S. has lost its senses.

Cihan Sheikh Ehmed, a spokesperson for the SDF forces said that it has enough forces to take the de facto Islamic Syrian capital with the help of the U.S.-led coalition. This statement is perhaps a veiled warning to Turks not to become involved as they are also heading towards the city. U.S. troops appear to be playing a larger role on the ground in the offensive towards Raqqa. Ehmed's remarks are likely to anger Turkey as it would like Turkish troops and rebels it supports to lead the offensive not the SDF dominated by the YPG that it considers terrorists.

The U.S. has been launching many air strikes on Raqqa as the SDF forces advance closer to the city. 13 strikes were reported on various targets. The Turks and allied Syrian rebels claim to have killed 2,647 Islamic State (IS) fighters and added more than 2,000 square kilometers (772 square miles) to the territory they control. The Assad regime wants Turkey to remove its troops. Syrian state media reported last Friday that Turkish troops had shelled Syrian army positions killing and wounding several troops.

Trump was given a new plan for defeating the Islamic State late in February. While the White House has yet to decide upon the options outlined in the plan, recent deployments of U.S. troops into Syria suggest that the Pentagon is being allowed greater flexibility in making routine combat decisions and increasing troop numbers.

The Russians also have been on the offensive in Syria helping Assad and defeating the IS:The Russian military said Friday that its warplanes have killed more than 600 militants in just one week while backing the Syrian army's offensive against IS. Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff said Russian aircraft have carried out 452 airstrikes in support of the Syrian government forces. In addition, Rudskoi stated that Syrian government forces have recaptured 92 towns and villages across a territory of 479 square kilometers, or 185 square miles, from IS in the past week.

While the IS seems to be close to losing the last major city it holds in Iraq there is increasing danger of further conflict of Turkish forces with the SDF, a situation the U.S. is anxious to avoid.

US Defense Minister Ashton Carter announces 200 more troops for Syria

(December 10)Manama - US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that another 200 troops will go to Syria in order to aid an offensive by Kurdish and Arab fighters, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), to free the city of Raqqa a stronghold of the Islamic State(IS) in Syria.

Speaking in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, Carter said: "I can tell you today that the United States will deploy approximately 200 additional US forces in Syria." There already are 300 US special forces operating in Syria backing the SDF troops. The offensive began in recent weeks and is taking place at the same time as an offensive against the IS-held city of Mosul in Syria. These two cities are the last two urban centers held by the IS after the Libyan city of Sirte fell to Libyan forces just recently. Their other Libyan stronghold of Derna was won by rival Islamist groups earlier this year. Carter said that bomb disposal experts, and trainers, will be included with the special forces. The IS have used car bombs, booby traps, and mines as well as snipers as they have put up fierce resistance when attacked in what they term is their caliphate. The US has used extensive airstrikes to help the advancing SDF forces. Carter said: “By combining our capabilities with those of our local partners, we’ve been squeezing Isis by applying simultaneous pressure from all sides and across domains, through a series of deliberate actions to continue to build momentum."

Carter criticized other Middle East partners for not adding more military support for the fight against the IS while themselves complaining about US efforts: “I would ask you to imagine what US military and defence leaders think when they have to listen to complaints sometimes that we should do more, when it’s plain to see that all too often, the ones complaining aren’t doing enough themselves.” He said it was reasonable that the US should expect regional powers opposed to the IS and other extremists in the Middle East to do more to help fight them. Carter said of the additional troops that they would "continue organizing, training, equipping and otherwise enabling capable, motivated local forces".

Carter also said that if Sunni regional powers were concerned about Iran's influence in the region they needed to become more involved in the area: “The fact is, if countries in the region are worried about Iran’s destabilising activities – a concern the United States shares – they need to get in the game. That means getting serious about starting to partner more with each other, and investing in the right capabilities for the threat.” Saudi Arabia has been busy intervening in the Yemen civil war on behalf of the former government, which until recently was in exile in Saudi Arabia, with disastrous humanitarian results. The opposition Houthi rebels are supported by Iran. Carter said that President Obama had approved sending the extra troops.

Carter said that Russian intervention in the Syrian war had "only inflamed the civil war and prolonged suffering". Russia's intervention not only appears to have saved the Assad regime but to have enabled it to achieve a major victory in Aleppo which may have turned the tide against the rebels supported by the US and many Arab states.

The US support for the Kurdish fighters is complicated by the fact that even though the US considers them to be the most effective partners of the US, they are viewed by Turkey, a US ally, as a terrorist threat. The US has slowly been increasing the number of its troops both in Iraq and Syria since 2014. Troops have not had a direct combat role. This could result in casualties and a negative political reaction within the US. Their main role is as advisors to Sunni fighters and Kurdish militia.

Carter noted that US strategy was to divide IS territory and taking out its leadership:"Leaders of the terrorist group can no longer travel between Raqqa and Mosul without the risk of either being struck from the air or hunted down by the coalition’s Expeditionary Targeting Force. In fact, since we began accelerating our campaign last year, we’ve killed the majority of ISIL’s most senior leaders.”

US Secretary of State, John Kerry is in Paris meeting with EU and Arab foreign ministers to discuss the situation in Syria. He is due to hold talks with Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister. Kerry said he was tired of trying to negotiate with the Russians. Kerry complained:“I know people are tired of these meetings. I’m tired of these meetings. And people are sort of: ‘Oh, another meeting. OK. This one will end the same way the other one did.’ I get it, folks... But what am I supposed to do? Go home and have a nice weekend in Massachusetts while people are dying? Sit there in Washington and do nothing? That’s not the way you do business.”

With the Assad regime appearing near victory in Aleppo, negotiations may be difficult. The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said that even if Assad takes all of Aleppo the war will not end. He said a serious discussion about the political future of Syria was the only way to peace.

Turks do not want Kurds involved in offensive to take Raqqa from the Islamic State

Turkey does not want the U.S.-backed offensive to take the Syrian Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa by relying on Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Turkish president, Recep Erdogan, said that Turkey could join the U.S.-led operation but only if Kurdish fighters were not involved. Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG and its associated Kurdish Democratic Union party as a terrorist group with links to Kurdish rebel insurgents within Turkey. The U.S., on the other hand, regards the group as among the most effective at fighting against the Islamic State and have provided them with support. This has created tension between the U.S. and Turkey.

Turkey said that if the operation were conducted with the YPG there would be no place in the operation for Turkish forces. Erdogan told reporters:"If they do not insert the PYD and YPG into this business, then certainly, we can get [involved] with the U.S. in this fight." He said it would be a shame if the U.S. and Turkey could not themselves counter the estimated 10,000 Islamic State fighters in Syria. He also called for a "national army" of Syrian rebel groups to maintain security in the region claiming that there were at least 65,000 rebel fighters able to do so. However, U.S. general Joe Dunford said just a week ago that the U.S. was considering arming Syrian Kurdish forces before the Raqqa offensive.

Turkey, a NATO member as well as a member of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, last month launched a ground operation to aid Turkish supported rebels oust the IS from a border town and surrounding area. However, there was some fighting with the YPG as well. A video describing the operation is appended.

A Turkish official claims that using the Kurds would result in prolonged ethnic conflict in the area. Since the town is predominantly Arab, the official suggested that Arab fighters should be the core of any offensive force. The official said; "Raqqa is an Arab city with a million people. If you carry out an operation to this city with 7,000-8,000 Kurdish forces, you would trigger a sectarian battle. That conflict would enflame all our border region." The U.S. has been having talks about a possible joint offensive with Turkey to take Raqqa.

Turkey does not want the Kurds to remain in territory west of the Euphrates river. While some Kurdish troops have withdrawn, some YPG fighters still remain in Manjbi which is west of the Euphrates. The Kurds already control an area further to the west along the Turkish border and the Turks fear that the Kurds might try to link the area with the rest of Syria that the Kurds control.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, echoed Erdogan's warning about using Kurds in the Raqqa offensive. He said that the offensive should include other U.S.-supported rebels and those supported by Turkey but not Kurds. He criticized the U.S. for its ongoing cooperation with the YPG. After the YPG captured the city of Manjbi, the Turks demanded they withdraw. Some have, but Cavusoglu complained that others still remained. Turkey has also talked of expelling "terrorists" from along the entire border a threat covering Kurds east of the Euphrates and an enclave further to the west.

Islamic State counter-attack in Syria regains some ground

The recent US-backed offensive against the IS-held strategic city of Manbij was reported as having reached the edge of the city. However on the morning of June 20, the offensive suffered a serious setback.

The IS forces retook nearby villages that had been captured by the Kurdish YPG. Two villages were retaken and there were claims that there had been summary execution of villagers and that some 500 Kurds had been taken and would be used as human shields in upcoming battles.

The director of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, Rami Rahman said: “ISIL is trying to defend Manbij by sending fighters from outside the town to attack the SDF in these villages. Daesh executed residents." "Daesh" refers to the Islamic State. The SDF stands for Syrian Democratic Forces a coalition of groups but with Kurds predominating. It is backed by the US which had carried out airstrikes to defend the villages. Rahman said five SDF fighters had been killed and 42 IS fighters by the airstrikes.

The offensive has been slowed by constant suicide attacks. The town has been held by IS since 2014 and is a key supply route to the capital Raqqa to the south. The route passes through the Turkish border then Manbij and down southeast through the town of Tabqa to Raqqa.

The IS is fiercely defending the town of Tabqa which has been under attack by Assad-regime forces backed by Russians, since early June. IS tried to counter-attack against Syrian troops south-west of the town but the attack failed. The attack killed six government troops and 14 IS fighters according to the Observatory.

Rahman claimed: “ISIL dispatched 300 fighters from Raqqa to Tabqa to help defend the town,." The militants launched a second counter-attack later in the afternoon and were able to seize many positions south-west of the town and were able to push back the regime forces as far as 20 kilometers from the Tabqa airport. In the fighting, IS is said to have lost 21 fighters while the regime forces lost 32.

The two counter-attacks have given a bit more breathing space for the defense of their Syrian "capital" Raqqa. IS has been suffering a series of setbacks in a number of places having lost most of Fallujah in Iraq and also most of Sirte their last stronghold in Libya. While the IS is obviously down at present it is not out by any means.

US commando raid in Syria fails to rescue Jordanian pilot

US Special Forces are reported by several media outlets to have failed in an attempt or attempts to rescue Muath al-Kasaesbeh who was captured by Islamic State forces after his plane was shot down over Syria.

Kasaesbeh was thought to be held on the outskirts of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State in Syria. Yesterday there were stepped up air attacks in the area that may have been an attempt to provide air cover for the operation. The helicopter gunships involved in the mission apparently came under heavy fire causing them to abandon the mission. There have been no casualty figures released and the Pentagon refuses to either confirm or deny the mission even happened. The 26-year old Kasaesbeh is the first foreign military pilot to be captured by IS since the aerial bombardment began in September. IS claims they shot down his jet on December 24

The rescue attempt was apparently about 20 km. east of the city center of Raqqa. Abu Ibrahim al-Raquaoui an anti-IS activist in Raqqa confirmed that two rescue attempts were made. The Daily Mail reports that five coalition aircraft hovered low over Raqqa while more than a dozen raids were carried out on the city's outskirts. While a number of IS buildings were hit at the other end of the city, helicopter gunships tried to deploy Special Forces on the ground in order to rescue the pilot and other hostages. 

Photos of the pilot being captured can be found here. An earlier attempt in July to rescue several US and UK hostages failed when IS moved the hostages just hours before the rescue raid. Among those the US attempted to rescue were James Foley who was later beheaded by the IS. The Turkish news agency, Anatolia cites witnesses as saying that "a number of American soldiers were killed in an exchange of gunfire with ISIS gunmen". There is no official confirmation yet of any casualties.  

IS-affiliated websites have posted conditions for the release of the Jordanian pilot: According to these sites, the group is demanding the release of a number of extremist leaders currently incarcerated in the West and in Arab countries. In addition, the organization is conditioning the release of the pilot on Amman’s withdrawal from the anti-ISIS coalition. The Islamic State has made no official announcement of conditions. 

An Egyptian TV report has claimed that the pilot had already been executed on the day he was captured. Fellow tribesmen have reportedly contacted their Bedouin counterparts in the Raqqa area to gain their cooperation in negotiations to release the pilot. The pilot's father has also pleaded for his son's release.

US airstrikes on Islamic State occupied town in Iraq reportedly kills 22 civilians

A US airstrike against the town of Hit held by the Islamic State killed 22 civilians and wounded many more as an apartments and a market were hit according to local residents.

Residents believe the target was a building not far down the road but it was not hit, indicating that the strike was an error. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) according to one source simply said that an attack west of Ramadi hit an ISIS-held building. A Kuwait source quotes CENTCOM as reporting several ISIS-held buildings being hit: An airstrike in western Ramadi destroyed three ISIL-held buildings and damaged two more, destroyed two ISIL anti-aircraft artillery pieces, and destroyed an ISIL unit, the statement said. Hit is a strategic town in the Euphrates River Valley in Anbar province.
 Major Curtis Kellogg a spokesperson for CENTCOM said there was no evidence that there were any civilian casualties in the Hit bombings. However this type of blanket statement is a standard response. The same is true for most cases in Afghanistan as well where NATO airstrikes have killed civilians. Even when Afghan officials confirm reports NATO or ISAF officials often refuse to change their account unless forced to do so by compelling evidence to the contrary.
The reports of casualties are not from Islamic State media but from the National Iraqi News Agency. The Agency claimed that US coalition forces bombs hit a market and that four children were among the dead and that the planes also bombed an "apartment building inhabited with families". A "security source" claimed that hundreds of families have fled Hit as bombings escalate.
 A resident of Raqqa, the main center held by IS in Syria, Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi told BBC: "The people are against IS, but if the USA bombs Raqqa, we will be with IS against the USA." He welcomed the bombing of the Tabqa air base and the group's headquarters in central Raqqa but claimed: ."Islamic State want these air strikes, because they know if it's just air strikes without forces on the ground, they will not fall down, and a lot of fighters will join them to fight the Americans." No doubt there will be similar responses in areas of Iraq controlled by the Islamic State especially since many of the Sunnis who cooperate with IS are former supporters of Hussein and will also see the US as simply agent's of the detested Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.
No doubt the U.S. wlll try to create another Awakening Movement or Sons of Iraq to counter the radical jihadists. The groups were bankrolled by the U.S. and as soon as the paycheck vanished everything fell apart: Due to Shiʻite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's refusal to fully integrate the Sons of Iraq into the Iraqi Security Services, "by 2013, the Sons of Iraq were virtually nonexistent". Sunnis formerly serving with the group either became unemployed or joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.[4] An interview with a former leader of one group shows why it may be difficult for the US to enlist their help in fighting the IS or ISIS, the aging general said: If ISIS were to show up here, I would step aside and point them in the direction of the Green Zone,” Shibib said, referring to the former U.S.-run enclave in central Baghdad that is now the seat of the Iraqi government. “If they have any quarrel, they can take it up with them.”
CENTCOM reports that since August 8 the US has launched at least 340 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria combined but almost three quarters were in Iraq. Few details are usually given on aircraft used or numbers killed and wounded in the strikes. While the US may be generous in providing airstrikes it is stingy in providing refugee status. Journalists Lauren Gambino and Raya Jalabi claim that the US only accepted 38 Syrian refugees in 2013.
While US bombings may cause civilian deaths they no doubt are an "improvement" over the bombing , including barrel bombs, and random shelling of urban areas by Iraqi government forces. Other countries including Gulf States and Great Britain have joined the US in the bombings. The appended video shows a UK airstrike.