The United States has wounded and captured ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi after one day of punishing airstrikes, according to reports from Iraq.
President Trump convened his top generals on his first day in office and ordered them to provide a plan to eradicate ISIS within 30 days – a key election promise – and according to sources in the region the new tactics have drawn immediate success.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis spent his first full day at the Pentagon by overseeing 31 strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. A variety of fighters, bombers and remotely piloted aircraft engaged in the bombing run, which saw 25 strikes in Syria and six in Iraq.
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BREAKING: Local sources say Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has been wounded by airstrikes in Al-Ba'aj, west of #Iraq's #Mosul. pic.twitter.com/2DVDL7RL7n
— H. Sumeri (@IraqiSecurity) January 22, 2017
In Syria, two strikes destroyed ISIL units and artillery near the town of Bab. Daesh forces in Raqqa, the terrorist group’s stronghold, took a heavy beating, as 22 strikes destroyed 12 tactical units, nine fighting positions, two underground improvised explosive bomb factories and an ISIS headquarters. The final strike targeted two IS oil wells in Deir ez Zour.
The account was backed up by the Iraq Oil Report, a respected source that gathers daily updates on security developments inside Mosul and surrounding ISIS-held areas from a network of local reporters, residents and fighters.
“Increased coalition air activity spotted around Ba’aj fuels rumors of IS “Caliph” being surrounded“.
Amid so many junk-rumors, this note is interesting, Ba'aj being a well known seat of power for Abu Bakr al Baghdadi – via @Iraqoilreport pic.twitter.com/tE40y4WaTF
— Daniele Raineri (@DanieleRaineri) January 23, 2017
As the dust settles on the fiercest bombardment ISIS have ever received, the word on the street in Iraq is that the new US administration have done what Obama could not, or would not, do – take out ISIS mastermind Al-Baghdadi.
A cornerstone of President Trump’s campaign was the promise that he would destroy ISIS as quickly as possible. He convened his top generals on his first day in office and ordered them to provide a plan to eradicate ISIS once and for all within 30 days.
As the new head of the Pentagon, Mattis would be expected to act on Trump’s plans and make them happen. The former Marine general, who once referred to Obama’s ISIS policy as full of “half measures” seems to have the plan on track.
