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US may commence airstrikes against IS in Philippines
As linked by Pappy in the comments here yesterday.
[NBC] Two defense officials said that the Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the US military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines. The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, the two officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.

If approved, the US military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.

The US military has been sharing intelligence with the Philippines for years, according to Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis, who said, "We have had a consistent CT [counterterror] presence in the Philippines for fifteen years now."

There is a small U.S. military presence on the ground supporting the counter-ISIS fight, called Joint Special Operations Task Force Trident.

In Manila on Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US was providing the Philippines government with "intelligence capabilities," including "some recent transfers of a couple of Cessnas and a couple of UAVs (drones) to allow to them to have better information with which to conduct the fight down there."

"We're providing them some training and some guidance in terms of how to deal with an enemy that fights in ways that are not like most people have ever had to deal with. I see no conflict at all in our helping them with that situation and our views of other human rights concerns we have with respect to how they carry out their counternarcotics activities."

Last month, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs endorsed the idea of naming the mission in the Philippines, saying that naming it would provide more funding.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Paul Selva said, "In every case where we see the resurgence of terror networks, particularly in the fragile areas of the southern Philippines, I think it's worth considering whether or not we reinstate a named operation, not only to provide for the resources that are required, but to give the Pacific Command commander and the field commanders in the Philippines the kinds of authorities they need to work with indigenous Philippine forces to actually help them be successful in that battle space."
Posted by: ryuge 2017-08-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=494554