US set for risky IS mission with leader’s death in Syria
Saturday’s raid that took the life of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi offered a preview of what’s to come for the slimmed-down, US-led fight against IS, officials and experts say, which is now set to focus extensively on targeting the group’s leaders from larger US bases in Iraq and American units in Syria.
The Donald Trump administration touted the US raid that took the life of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “flawless” in execution, as elite Delta Force operators descending from Chinook helicopters trapped the Islamic State (IS) leader in his northwest Syria compound.
But Saturday’s raid, which Trump himself described as “dangerous and daring,” also offered a preview of what’s to come for the slimmed-down, American-led fight against IS, which is now set to focus extensively on targeting the group’s leaders from larger US bases in Iraq and using American units in Syria.
The mission will come with serious risk, as conventional US forces in Syria are tied down with guarding Syrian oil fields in Deir ez-Zor and at an outpost abreast an Iranian supply line at Al-Tanf, where IS fighters are dispersed and hold no meaningful territory. With a diminished troop footprint, which officials say has been salvaged by President Trump’s desire to maintain control over petroleum reserves, the United States will also lean heavily on the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for intelligence.
“We're losing geographic proximity to the threat, as well as intelligence development opportunities,” a former military official told Al-Monitor. “We're going to find out about fewer targets, and it'll be more difficult to move against those we do identify.”
