The New York Times: The removal of the Marine Corps from ISIS Cave requires the use of a crane

POSTED ON [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] BY [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]The New York Times: The removal of the Marine Corps from ISIS Cave requires the use of a crane[/size]

[size=45]Translation: Hamed Ahmed
[size=45]Military officials revealed that leaders of the American Defense Ministry (Pentagon) began to reconsider how to carry out the tasks of the American combat forces in Iraq and Syria, after the killing of two soldiers of the American Army Special Operations forces in northern Iraq during an operation against ISIS militants Sunday.[/size]
[size=45]Officials said that the review, which was stimulated by the special circumstances surrounding Sunday's mission, will look into how the American forces advise and accompany the Iraqi local forces, noting that the American military operations will continue during the review.[/size]
[size=45]The two soldiers killed were part of the Marine Corps Special Operations team with the Iraqi counterterrorism forces, trapped in intense gunfire while trying to evacuate and treat a fortified cave network in a mountainous area near the town of Makhmour, 40 miles southwest of Erbil.[/size]
[size=45]The killing of the two American soldiers is the first during the year 2020. According to one of the military officials, the removal of the bodies of the two killed American soldiers required the use of a crane, after falling into a cave gap.[/size]
[size=45]In a statement, a spokesman for the international coalition forces operating in Iraq and Syria, Colonel Miles Carens, said that the American forces had to send additional forces to carry out the nearly six-hour evacuation of the two bodies.[/size]
[size=45]Colonel Carens declined to comment on the matter of reconsidering the operations, but stressed: "We continue to support our Iraqi armed forces partners in their mission to defeat the remaining remnants of ISIS."[/size]
[size=45]These killings occurred while ISIS had spent the last months re-arranging its ranks in remote areas free from any government security presence in Iraq and Syria, as local forces in both countries are busy trying to keep the organization's militants from approaching civilian areas.[/size]
[size=45]ISIS militants who were targeting a raid on Sunday were among a larger group, whose number has gradually increased in the rugged region of northeastern Iraq. Makhmour is one of the disputed areas where security responsibility has always been transferred between the region’s forces and the forces of the federal government.[/size]
[size=45]The land surrounding Makhmur is a rocky land interspersed with hills and arid areas with a large number of natural caves that ISIS has exploited as hideouts and as weapons stores. According to officials, the group that was raided includes 19 militants and was considered among the largest cells of ISIS militants, which were revealed by American and Iraqi intelligence sources.[/size]
[size=45]According to officials, no Iraqi anti-terrorist forces were wounded during the battle, but two were killed during a previous raid at the beginning of this year.[/size]
[size=45]In a tweet by the former Special Envoy of the International Alliance against ISIS, Brett McGurk, in which he referred to the long time that had been spent in the process of evacuating the dead. "Something is not right," McGurk said in his tweet.[/size]
[size=45]He added, "It appears that we have lost focus on this task while increasing the risks to which our people are exposed by depleting their resources for an ineffective reason."[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier Yahya Rasoul, commented in a tweet on the joint military raid that the anti-terror forces are continuing to track the remnants of ISIS gangs wherever they fled. Do not stop them from chasing mountains or hills, "noting that" after successful operations, fighters of the anti-terrorist agency continue to pursue terrorists. "[/size]
[size=45]The last American soldier killed in a battle inside Iraq happened in August, when a Marine, Scott Copenhagen, was killed during a joint Iraqi-American operation against ISIS in Nineveh Governorate. The Pentagon is studying options to reduce the number of troops in Iraq to approximately 2,500.[/size]


[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[/size][/size]