The White House. Yahoo/AP.
The White House has announced that a daring commando raid has killed a senior ISIS leader in Syria. Yahoo/AP. The ISIS commander was named Abu Sayyaf and he was accused of planning "terrorist activities" and had a major role in the Islamic States oil and gas operations. His wife was with him and was captured by the commandos. In addition a Yazidi slave was also rescued. Thousands of Yazidis are still being held captive by ISIS, and it appears that Abu Sayyaf and his wife held the woman as a personal slave. Syria also claims to have killed another top commander in the same area as the American raid that killed Abu Sayyaf, but it is unclear what the circumstances of that raid were. The White House denied that they worked with Syria but did acknowledge that they informed the Syrians of the raid. The mission was planned with the assistance of Iraq and no U.S. casualties were reported.
My Comment:
The White House statement can be found here.
What's my take on this raid? It sounds like they went after a major player in the Islamic State's economic sector. The fact that they sent commandos, updated reports say it was Delta Force, after him instead of blowing him up with a drone or airstrike means they wanted him for intelligence. Apparently he fought back, to little effect. Perhaps his wife or his Yazidi slave will offer up some useful information.
It's a smart strategy. People that can handle the economic side of warfare are rare. Killing Abu Sayyaf will hurt ISIS in the long term. More then anything else ISIS needs money. The money they get from their oil and gas wells funds their offensives and pays for their recruits. They also keep the lights on and the food on the table for the people under their control. If the United States succeeds in destroying the economy of the Islamic State, then they are well on their way to defeating them. I've always said that logistics is the most important part of warfare but being able to pay for your soldiers and weapons has to be closely related.
ISIS has to be running out of money. Sure they make a lot from the oil sales and the selling of illicit artifacts. And they stole millions from Mosul when they raided it. But they have to pay their troops, pay for the civilians under their control and buy weapons and other supplies. You can't run a state on plunder alone. You need an economy, and without oil, ISIS will have a very limited one.
I'm not sure what the AP article was talking about when they said that the Syrians also pulled off a raid. I guess it is possible but it seems like a huge coincidence that they would conduct a raid at roughly the same time in roughly the same area as the United States. My guess is that there was no raid and that the Syrians found out about the American raid somehow. They wanted to take some credit as well and look like they were still in control. I guess anything is possible though, so maybe they did have some action as well.
I'm glad to hear that they rescued a Yazidi woman. From what it sounds like, they are going to try to return her to her family. Let's hope that it happens, but in all likelihood there won't be much family to find. There is a good chance that they were killed in last summers massacre or they were enslaved themselves. Perhaps, for once, there will be a happy ending.
I also wonder how complicit the wife was in this whole mess. I understand that the initial feeling is that she is as much of a victim as the Yazidi woman was but I'm not so sure. Yes, women are treated as less then people in the Islamic State, but it is possible that she took an active role in mistreating the Yazidi woman as well. Plus, she might have been one of those very misguided women who joined ISIS willingly. Is someone who willingly oppresses herself really a victim?
On the other hand it is very possible that she was as much as a victim as the Yazidi woman. She might not have wanted to be the wife of Abu Sayyaf and even if she did, she might not have wanted to have a slave. From what I understand ISIS doesn't consider it adultery, or rape for that matter, if the woman is a Yazidi. Perhaps this is as much as a relief for the wife as it is to the slave.
From the new reports coming out it sounds like this was a close range fight. If the reports of hand to hand combat are true, then it is even more impressive that Delta didn't have any casualties. They are the best of the best though, so we should expect the impossible from them. It's good to know that our military can still pull off complex and difficult operations like this.
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