WASHINGTON — As U.S. forces gear up for airstrikes in Syria, the first demonstration of President Obama’s more aggressive military campaign against the Islamic State group is likely to unfold first in Iraq as early as next week, officials said Friday.
In Syria, U.S. planes and drones will be gathering intelligence on targets and air defense threats in preparation for airstrikes there. At the same time, a wider range of targets – perhaps including Islamic State leaders – are expected to come under attack in Iraq.
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U.S. warplanes have launched 158 strikes in Iraq over the past five weeks while emphasizing a relatively narrow set of targets. The focus has been Obama’s initial goal of defending U.S. personnel, protecting critical infrastructure such as major dams and enabling humanitarian relief operations.
New strikes Friday destroyed two Islamic State armed vehicles in an effort to support Iraqi troops near the Mosul Dam and in defense of Irbil, the military’s U.S. Central Command said.
More U.S. troops, along with additional intelligence-gathering aircraft, are expected to arrive in northern Iraq next week. That will enable an expanded surveillance effort over Syria by a range of aircraft, including Predator and Reaper drones as well as Navy EA-18G electronic warfare planes that are capable of jamming air defense radars and striking ground targets.
Without citing a specific timeline, the Pentagon’s press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said the air campaign in Iraq, which began Aug. 8, will enter a new, more aggressive phase designed to exploit the Islamic State group’s vulnerabilities, which include a lack of effective defenses against U.S. warplanes.
“In coming days we’re going to be more aggressive and shift a focus from what has been to date primarily defensive in nature to more offensive in nature,” he said. He suggested that this will include strikes at Islamic State leaders in Iraq.
“When you are going after a network like this, one of the things that you also want to go after is their ability to command and control and to lead their forces,” Kirby said.
The aim is not to destroy the Islamic State forces in Iraq by air power, but rather to erode their capabilities and limit their movement so that Iraqi ground forces can regain territory.
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