We talked the other day about the three US Special Forces soldiers killed in Jordan last week. Their names have been released; Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen, Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty. Their biographies are posted at The Army Times. They were all based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and part of the 2,000-person force in Jordan that is training the Jordanian Army to fight ISIS.
The incident is still under investigation and a Jordanian officer was also wounded.
The Army has announced that the 82d Airborne Division’s 2d Brigade Combat Team (the Falcon Brigade) is making preparations to relieve the 101st Airborne Division’s 2d Brigade Combat Team in Iraq;
“The 2nd Brigade Combat Team is highly trained, disciplined, and fit,” said Col. James “Pat” Work, commander 2nd Brigade Combat Team. “Readiness is our top priority; our paratroopers are prepared for this deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Our team looks forward to this important mission and our opportunity to assist our Iraqi partners.”
The deployment will consist of about 1700 paratroopers, and my old unit 1/325th Airborne Infantry Regiment. They differ from the “Parachute Infantry Regiments” in that during World War II, the 325th were Glider-borne Infantry.
Mick sends us a link from Fox News which reports that two Americans were killed as they tried to enter a Jordanian military base. A third American was wounded;
The shots were fired as a car carrying the trainers tried to enter the al-Jafr base near the southern Jordanian town of Mann, said the military…A Jordanian officer was also wounded.
The U.S. Embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman, said it had received reports about a security incident involving U.S. personnel and that it was in touch with Jordanian authorities.
From Reuters;
Reuters reported earlier on Friday, citing Jordanian sources, that two Americans were killed and another injured when the car they were in failed to stop at the gate of a military base and was fired on by Jordanian security forces.
From BBC;
[A] US defence official said only one death had been confirmed.
At least two people were also wounded in the gunfire and taken to hospital, the US official said.
According to the Associated Press, the Iranian backed Shi’te militias have joined the battle for Mosul.
The umbrella group for the militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, said they will not enter Mosul itself and will instead focus on retaking Tal Afar, a town to the west that had a Shiite majority before it fell to IS in 2014.
Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for the group, told reporters in Baghdad the militias had retaken 10 villages since the start of the predawn operation. But there likely still was some fighting underway, and he said forces were removing explosive booby-traps left by IS to slow their advance.
Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, said his group and the other militias had advanced 4 miles toward Tal Afar and used anti-tank missiles to destroy three suicide car bombs that were heading toward them.
He said the U.S.-led coalition, which is providing airstrikes and ground support to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga, is not playing any role in the Shiite militias’ advance. He said Iranian advisers and Iraqi aircraft were helping them.
The militias were formed in 2003 to oppose the perceived US invasion and they were re-established in response to the ISIS invasion of Iraq in 2014.
While the militias were involved in the north of Iraq, an ISIS suicide bomber attacked a Shi’ite aid station in Baghdad, killing seven and wounding more than twenty Shi’ite pilgrims.
In recent weeks, the Turkish government has taken advantage of the Mosul attack in Iraq to attack Kurdish forces in Turkey. Now, the situation there is so volatile that the State Department has ordered families of their employees out of the country, according to AFP;
The order was announced in the second travel warning that the State Department issued for Americans in Turkey in less than a week, reflecting US concerns about “increased threats from terrorist groups.”
The decision to evacuate the families of staff was made “based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack US citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent.”
From CNN;
Meanwhile, Turkey’s intrusion into the Syrian civil war has strained relations with the United States.
Turkey says it wants to help Syrian rebel forces fight ISIS, but Turkish warplanes have also bombed US-allied Kurdish fighters who are also fighting ISIS. Kurds are a large ethnic minority along the Turkish-Syrian border.
With friends like these….
According to Fox News, US citizen Robin Shahini was sentenced Monday to 18 years for “collaboration with a hostile [US] government” by Iran. Last week, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi were sentenced to 10 years in prison by Iran. Congressional Republicans claim it’s because the Obama Administration has given the Iranians the impression that we’ll pay ransoms for the release of US prisoners held by the Persians;
Republican lawmakers say the Obama administration’s controversial “ransom” paid to Iran earlier this year is fueling a new wave of harsh sentences being handed down in the country to Iranian-Americans.
“President Obama’s cash ransom payment to Iran makes Americans more vulnerable and encourages unjustified prison sentences and blatant kidnapping like this,” Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio told FoxNews.com on Wednesday.
“Senior Justice Department officials warned the White House that Iran would view the pallets of cash as ransom, but the president didn’t listen, and now Iran is taking more hostages and demanding more money.”
[…]
The sentencings follow a deal in January that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three others — an agreement completed the same day the U.S. made a $400 million cash delivery to Iran.
Smart diplomacy. Every President since Thomas Jefferson has resisted paying ransoms for US citizens held by Muslim pirates. Well, until now.
According to Fox News, there’s a fellow in Mosul who is sniping away at ISIS leadership. His presence is encouraging the locals left in the city to resist their occupiers as the Iraqi forces plod toward the city.
The gunman has been targeting extremists in Mosul for several days now as Iraqi-led coalition forces continue their battle to retake the jihadi stronghold.
“The emergence of the ‘Sniper of Mosul,’ as the residents call him, increased the pace of the popular resistance against ISIS,” Al Sumaria News reported.
“The presence of the sniper in four neighborhoods emphasizes that there are many snipers and not only one.”
The UK’s Daily Star tells how the sniper disrupted a public execution;
Sick jihadis had gathered for the execution of the teenage boy who was accused with supporting resistance movements within the city in Iraq.
As the executioner took aim to behead the boy, the sniper opened fire – blasting the monster and killing him.
Terrified terrorists began opening fire randomly after the sniper’s attack as they panicked, according to Al Sumaria News.
The teenager was gunned down before he could escape, but the message to jihadists is the same one received by the civilians;
Death squads waging a guerrilla war on ISIS have brazenly gunned down jihadis leaders in broad daylight shootings.
Women in burqas have also been part of their campaign, gunning down ISIS commanders at checkpoints using pistols hidden beneath their veils.
Snipers can’t win the battle for Mosul, but they’re apparently contributing significantly to the strategy.
Petty Officer Jason Finan became the first US casualty of the assault on Mosul yesterday in an IED explosion. He was assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 3 in Coronado according to Navy.mil. Finan leaves behind his wife, Chariss, and their 7-year-old son, Christopher, in Imperial Beach.
From the San Diego Tribune;
Before his death, his decorations included the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a Combat Valor designation, the Army Commendation Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, two Combat Action Ribbons, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Ribbon, the Iraq Campaign Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and the NATO Medal.