Posted on 05/03/2016 5:28:31 AM PDT by kristinn
The self-proclaimed Islamic State broke through a line of Kurdish forces in Iraq and killed a U.S. service member Tuesday who were there to advise them, a U.S. defense official told the Daily Beast.
U.S. advisers had arrived on Monday morning to assist the Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, in the northern city of Mosul, checking on “their morale and defenses,” the official said.
The U.S. forces were as many as 3 miles from the frontlines when the ISIS fighters attacked, the official said.
ISIS fighters “appeared to penetrate the forward line” and began attacking the peshmerga. A U.S. service member was shot at 9:30 a.m. local time; he died an hour later in a US medical facility in nearby Erbil, the official said.
No other U.S. service members were wounded or killed. It is unclear if the peshmerga suffered any casualties. This is not the first time ISIS has successfully broke the Kurdish line. Fighters successfully attacked the peshmerga as far back as late last year, the official said.
The U.S. deployed F-15s and drones to fight back the ISIS offensive, launching 23 strikes, the Pentagon said.
The name and rank of the U.S. service member haven’t been released. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the service member's death while in Stuttgart, Germany, for a change of command ceremony at U.S. European Command headquarters.
The service member is the third killed in Iraq since the US campaign against ISIS began and the second to die while trying to build up the local forces. Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin died in March helping the Iraqi forces move toward Mosul from the south.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
More at the source link.
What do we expect when we send in a couple hundred troops. Bring them home or level the place.
Shameful. Why are Americans being sent there to advise when they would be dependent on weak security? Obama’s fault - this is how a community organizer (I still don’t know what that is) fights a war.
God rest his soul and be with his loved ones.
So I guess the advisers are now advising to beef up the security. Or get the heck out of there.
No mention if this soldier, and others, was armed. I wonder?
RIP. I doubt this brave soldier was “advising” when he got hit.
They are simply props for president ubama and targets for the ISLAMIC State In Syria.
Here is an excellent short recent documentary on YPG Kurds fighting ISIS. Really good HD footage and good narration. There is a short scene of US/Western SF at work starting at around 9:30.
http://medias.france24.com/en/ptw/2016/04/23/MG060544-A-01-20160420.mp4
Did Obama apologize yet?
Hillary’s Vietnam
Yep, Obama is so scared of putting boots on the ground the few who are there are at high risk.
I wonder if he was even able to shoot back. I doubt it.
I try very hard not to trouble my mind with any thoughts of the present occupier of the White House.
Remaining comments erased, thus self censored.
I just roll my eyes anytime we send a couple hundred troops anywhere. We either go in mass or don’t go.
The article kind of bothers me when it discusses breaking through the “front line”.
In modern warfare there is NO “front line” and everybody is combat effective.
beat me to it.
What do you think advisors do? Hint, mostly not "advising"
Great find. Thank you.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Another hero pays the price for our freedom. Good thing there are no boots on the ground in that part of the world.
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