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US Army's Delta Force units started targeting Daesh in Iraq.
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Defence & Security News - United States
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US Army's Delta Force units started targeting Daesh in Iraq
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The US Army’s Delta Force units started combat operations against Daesh (ISIL) operators in Iraq, says a US official on Feb. 29, 2016. After several weeks of preparations, the U.S. Army's 200-strong elite force has begun ground operations in Iraq to target, capture and/or kill top Islamic State group operatives, a high-level Washington official told CNN.
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 US Army's 200-strong special forces unit started targeting Islamic State in Iraq |
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"We will not comment on their operations or their location to maintain operational security," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
In December of last year, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter initially detailed such missions at a congressional testimony, saying the Pentagon was sending a "specialized expeditionary targeting force (ETF)" to conduct "raids and intelligence gathering missions." The Pentagon’s ETF, comprised of 200 personnel deployed to Iraq last December, have gathered enough intelligence to conduct missions against about half a dozen “targeted missions” inside Iraq and to go after certain leaders of the group. This unit is mainly composed of Delta Force, one of the U.S. military's so-called "Tier One" Special Operations units. The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or 1st SFOD-D, is a U.S. Army unit used for hostage rescue and counterterrorism, as well as direct action and reconnaissance against high-value targets. As part of its so-called war on Daesh Takfiri terrorists, the Pentagon had announced there were 3,500 US forces on the ground in Iraq to "train and equip" local security forces against the foreign-backed militants. That tally has now been increased to 3,870, according to US Army Colonel Steve Warren. |
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