Now that the US is just bombing Iraq just for the hell of it, having long since dropped the veil of doing so for "humanitarian" reasons which was the original pretext given a month ago, it needs to start showing positive results. Moments ago it may have gotten the first validation that its strategy of bombing runs is working following an Al Arabiya report [4]that the aide of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed after a strike on the ISIS-held city of Mosul, in northern Iraq, citing the Iraqi defense ministry said Thursday. Another ISIS figure was also declared dead, the ministry added.
[5]
Iraqi Shiite fighters hold ISIS flag as they celebrate after breaking the
siege of Amerli by Islamic State militants, September 1, 2014. (Reuters)
From Al Arabiya [4]:
Iraq and the United States have both been carrying out airstrikes against ISIS targets, after the militant group seized large parts of the country’s north and west.
The U.S., which began carrying out airstrikes in Iraq in early August after its troop withdrawal in 2011, is now taking the lead in attempts to form an international coalition to intensify strikes against ISIS militants.
Today, UK Prime Minister David Cameron indicated his country might be willing to join such an effort, in remarks at the opening of this week’s NATO summit in Wales.
Then again, since there is no information about just who the "aide" that was killed was, or if it was a US air strike that took his life, one has to take this latest report with a grain of salt, especially since if it is this simple to kill al-Baghdadi's aide, then why not just focus on the ISIS head himself and take him out?
