In the ongoing fight between Delta Force and ISIS, Deltas win again

Blake Stilwell
Apr 2, 2018 9:39 AM PDT
1 minute read
Special Operations photo

SUMMARY

A 200-strong force of U.S. special operators, led by the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force, recently arrived in Iraq. Until now, the bulk of U.S. efforts against the terror organization have been through aerial operations, bombing and air support for K…

A 200-strong force of U.S. special operators, led by the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force, recently arrived in Iraq. Until now, the bulk of U.S. efforts against the terror organization have been through aerial operations, bombing and air support for Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the ground. The United States now has this significant ground combat force in the country, the first combat troops on Iraqi soil since the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2011.


Taking a page from General Stanley McChrystal's special operations playbook from the Iraq War circa 2004-2006, today's operators established internal intelligence networks to tackle the ISIS networks working against Iraqi and American forces. This strategy led to the death of al-Qaeda in Iraq's (what would become ISIS) most notorious leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006. Now, the strategy has led to the capture of a "significant" ISIS operative in Iraq and is currently questioning him for intelligence information.

Is there anything more awesome than seeing US Special Forces inside a captured ISIS compound?

Related: SEAL Team 6's plan to surrender and 7 other amazing JSOC tales

This isn't the first time an ISIS (or Daesh, as the group loathes to be called) fighter has been captured but it is the first time a "significant" member of the terror group has been captured. It is also the first time the "network vs. network" strategy yielded such a result – just weeks after it was was raised. The high value detainee has not been identified. The "key operative" has been moved to Irbil, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq, where, eventually he will be handed over to Iraqi authorities.

The ground force is known as a "specialized expeditionary targeting force" at the Pentagon, and their missions will include intelligence gathering through raids on ISIS strongholds, grabbing papers, hard drives, and capturing operatives. The presence of the U.S. special operators also gives the United States the ability to conduct hostage rescue raids. These raids will continue and will look like the May 2015 raid that killed Abu Sayyaf, the ISIS oil minister, along with mobile phones, laptops, and other intel.

The exact timing of the latest raid was not disclosed.

U.S. Army Delta Force soldier Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed by enemy gunfire during a raid to rescue 70 hostages from an ISIS compound in Iraq in 2015. His death was the first American combat fatality since the U.S. returned to Iraq for Operation Inherent Resolve.

 

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