Iraqi Security Forces have initiated a counterattack against the Islamic State to relieve troops in Bayji, said Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III, commander of U.S. Central Command headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
Austin, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon Friday morning, said while it was difficult to pinpoint exactly when Iraqi troops will be able to retake significant amounts of territory lost to the jihadi group since January, they are “doing some things right now incrementally to recapture ground lost.”
Just this morning, said Austin, Iraqi troops attacked up to Bayji, site of Iraq’s largest refinery, where troops have been pinned down and recently required an airdrop of food and ammunition.
“The assault is ongoing as we speak,” said Austin, adding that though Islamic State forces are close enough to Baghdad International Airport to fire mortar rounds into it, the airport is not in danger of falling into enemy hands for now.
“I do not see a threat to the airport as we speak,” said Austin. “It is something we monitor. We patrol on a routine basis. Apache (helicopters) are flying in the area. We are working with the Iraqi Security Forces that have the responsibility to secure the area. (Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) is up around the airfield, routinely. So I don’t see a threat to the airport that would cause the airport to fall.”
During the press conference, his first since Operation Inherent Resolve began Aug. 8 with air attacks on Islamic State positions in Iraq, Austin urged patience. An attack on the city of Mosul, for instance, “is going to take a much bigger effort,” said Austin. “We are going to regenerate a bit more combat power and do more things to help the effort a bit.”
A leader with a great deal of experience in Iraq as an assistant division commander, Multi-National Corps commander and ultimately commander of U.S. forces in Iraq from Sept. 2010 until the withdrawal in December 2011, Austin cautioned that the fight against Islamic State will take time.
“I spent a lot of time in Mosul,” said Austin. “It is difficult terrain.”
The air campaign, which extended to Syria on Sept. 23, is not intended to be knockout blow against Islamic State, said Austin: It is meant to help buy time and space as the U.S. helps rebuild an Iraqi Security Force suffering from “years of neglect and poor leadership” under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who purged Sunnis and Kurds from the military.
Austin acknowledged that Anbar province “is still contested and has been for some time,” there has been “no appreciable increase of ISIL forces in Anbar from what you saw in the July, August timeframe.”
To rapidly increase security in Anbar means enlisting the help of Sunni tribes, much like what took place in 2008, Austin said, adding that the new government of Haider al-Abadi seems to be making those efforts. And though Islamic State forces are still in control of Fallujah and Mosul, Austin said that Iraqi troops are making incremental moves against the enemy.
A week and a half ago, he said, the Iraqi 9th Division attacked west toward the city of Karmah toward the besieged western Iraq city of Ramadi to link up with the 1st Division and open up lines of communication and provide logistical support to forces there.
Though the main thrust of Operation Inherent Resolve is to dislodge Islamic State forces from territory captured in Iraq, the continuing emphasis on hitting their targets in Syria, where the jihadis have amassed near the town of Kobani, is a matter of an opportunity too good to pass up, said Austin.
“The enemy has made the decision to make Kobani his main effort,” Austin said. “If he continues to present us with major targets, as in the Kobani area, we will service those targets and have done so very effectively of late … The more we can attrit him in Kobani, the less he has to reinforce efforts in other places.”
The efforts are having an effect, said Austin, pinning down the enemy in Syria and impeding its ability to reinforce its forces in Iraq.
Over the past couple of days, 14 airstrikes against Islamic State targets have taken out 19 enemy buildings, two command posts, three fighting positions, three sniper positions, one staging location, and one heavy machine gun.
Though Austin said Kobani, a largely Kurdish city on the Turkish border where more than 150,000 have fled the fighting, may ultimately fall, the Kurdish resistance “are actually fighting to regain territory previously lost.”
Iraq is the main focus, said Austin. But bad weather over that nation has limited supporting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights over the area, thus hindering the ability to hit targets by air, Austin said.
Still, Inherent Resolve is damaging Islamic State, said Austin, by keeping pressure on its command and control systems.
“It’s problematic for them to be able to command and control now,” said Austin. “The fact is that they are afraid to talk on their networks, afraid to assemble command groups for fear of being struck by us. Their command control are somewhat fragmented, but still fairly effective. But it will be much more challenging…and will get worse as we go along.”
Inherent Resolve is also maintaining pressure on the Khorasan Group, a unit of hard-core al-Qaida leaders, said Austin, thought to have been close to carrying out an attack on U.S. or allied airliners.
He called an assessment on the fight against Khorasan Group “still a work in progress. We remain focused on this…rest assured we will maintain pressure on that organization.”
As for reports that Islamic State is flying fighter jets over Aleppo with the help of Iraqi pilots who have defected, Austin said “we don’t have any operational reporting of ISIL flying jets in support of ISIL activities on the ground. We cannot confirm that.”