“The Iraqi security forces … have a tremendous capability,” he said. “That capability has grown. They've gotten better at this urban fight. They know what they're getting themselves into and they know that they have in many cases broken the will of many of these [ISIL] fighters.”
Supporting Iraqi Forces
Sylvia said that over the past nine months task force members have found ways to deepen their involvement with their Iraqi counterparts.
Describing the model of their advise-and-assist mission, he said, “The Iraqis do the ground maneuver and we support them with all the capabilities at our disposal. We work as one team to accomplish the mission.”
Task Force Strike uses the model at various echelons and it has become more effective over time and has yielded increasing success.
Over the past nine months, he said, Iraqi fighters assisted by Task Force Strike have liberated hundreds of villages and cities, including Fallujah, Qayyara, Sharqot and Qaraqosh, and helped nearly 250,000 displaced persons, 100,000 of whom left refugee camps and went back to their homes.
The Iraqis, under fire, put an assault bridge over the Tigris River, the task force commander said, “and then three more bridges were constructed over the Tigris and the Qaza Rivers and a major airfield was liberated and then restored at [Qayyara] West.”
Comments are closed.