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Pentagon: Islamic State down to 350 fighters in Sirte, Libya
[STRIPES] Only about 350 Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... fighters remain in the all-but-abandoned Libyan coastal city of Sirte as the United States finished its eighth day of The United States, as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, began targeting Islamic State vehicles and fighting positions Aug. 1. Since then, unmanned aircraft launching from undisclosed locations and Marine AV-8B Harrier jets taking off from the nearby USS Wasp, an amphibious assault warship, have conducted 28 strikes against the terrorist group, according to U.S. Africa Command and defense officials who spoke on the condition of not being named. More than half of the strikes have been conducted from unmanned aircraft, one of the defense officials said. Sirte, once a city of 80,000 people, has about 1,000 residents remaining, the defense official said. Islamic State snuffies there totaled up to 1,000 fighters at one time. But their numbers have dwindled as well and many of them have moved outside Sirte to the south or blended back into the civilian population, the official said. Posted by: Fred 2016-08-10 |
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