By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
The battle with ISIS is neither mono-directional nor is it mono-dimensional. The battle with ISIS has many levels and many fronts.
Ramadi, a city of 500,000 people, fell to ISIS yesterday. It is the capital f the Anbar province. Now the entire Anbar province in Iraq is now in the hands of ISIS. ISIS confirmed the conquest and we have video of Iraqi forces running away for fear of losing their heads.
We saw army vehicles speed away with Iraqi soldiers jumping and grabbing the sides of the trucks trying to escape.
When ISIS confirmed the victory they said that they had confiscated tanks and trucks and executed apostates.
This is a major setback for the West and a great victory for ISIS.
Anbar is the largest province in Iraq. Its transfer into ISIS control expands ISIS land and property even more. Anbar is larger than the rest of Iraq combined and the population of Anbar is 2 million.
Two days ago, in Syria, US Delta Force commandos attacked and killed ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf, the man in charge of oil production and marketing. I have been told that the plan was not to kill him, but to capture him alive -- plans do not always work out as anticipated. In the course of the attack, however, the West killed 31 ISIS fighters and captured the wife of Abu Sayyaf.
The commandos took computers and papers. Abu Sayyaf evidently kept meticulous record.
The success here is far greater than simply assassinating an individual high up in the ISIS organization. It must be seen together with other successful hits by the United States - the removal of the #1 ISIS leader, al Baghdadi and then the assassination of the #2 ISIS leader, Abu Afri.
Even more important than eliminating a high ranking ISIS member is the position that this particular
ISIS member held - Abu Sayyaf ran the extremely efficient oil system that provided money allowing ISIS to function as smoothly and efficiently as it does.
Striking a blow to ISIS money sources is a huge success.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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