Maintenance window scheduled to begin at February 14th 2200 est. until 0400 est. February 15th

(e.g. yourname@email.com)

Forgot Password?

    Defense Visual Information Distribution Service Logo

    Never out of Reach: ARCENT’s 15 month fight against ISIL

    Never out of reach

    Courtesy Photo | An image of coalition aircraft striking an ISIL target in Iraq. Coalition aircraft...... read more read more

    (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

    09.26.2015

    Story by Staff Sgt. Bryan Dominique 

    U.S. Army Central   

    UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Daesh, swept through Iraq and Syria like a plague, casting a dark shadow of destruction across the region.

    On Dec. 8, 2014, United Central Command released a statement to the world: “A Combined Joint Task Force made up of multinational military forces is being established by U.S. Central Command to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.”

    U.S. ARCENT seemed the logical choice for Operation Inherent Resolve - given its presence in the region and that members were already forward deployed to regionally align with partner nations in the area - but ARCENT’s mission was distinctly different from that of the counter ISIL fight.

    “They have absolutely no respect for humanity, and I think it personally has driven me to move this coalition forward,” said Lt. Gen. James Terry of U.S. Army Central.

    At the time the CENTCOM announcement came, the Yazidi people who inhabit the northern region of Iraq were facing an all- out assault from ISIL.

    Peshmerga forces, the military arm of the autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq, came to the aid of the Yazidis, but the human toll had already been paid.

    Perhaps worst of all is ISIL’s horrendous sex slave trade, where ISIL also sold and traded hundreds of Yazidi women and children captured during that time into sex slavery. It is an industry that still exists today in areas controlled by the terror group.

    Operation Inherent Resolve aimed to enable indigenous forces like the Peshmerga to take ISIL head-on and prevent further suffering by building partner capacity and leveraging coalition nation air power to halt the group’s momentum.

    The CJTF, under U.S. Army Central, carried out more than 6,900 airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria. In addition, the coalition worked with the Kurdish militia in Syria by providing precision airstrikes and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, resulting in ISIL ceding more than 1,500 kilometers of territory in the war-torn country.

    And finally, longtime ally and NATO partner, Turkey joined the coalition, launching its first airstrikes as part of the CJTF, Aug. 28.

    “[Turkey] is key. It’s integral. Daesh needs the access into Turkey to support the flow of fighters and cash. I think looking back, this will be one of the key turning points in the conflict against Daesh,” said Marine Col. Brian Roberts, chief of operations for CJTF- OIR.

    Roberts led all operations throughout the night in the Combined Joint Operations Center, a bustling auditorium- sized room of activities ranging from intelligence collection and sharing to social media monitoring and air strike approval.

    As the CHOPS, he oversaw more than 3,000 of the 6,900 airstrikes the coalition launched under the command of ARCENT.

    “In May [or] June it started bubbling up,” said Roberts. “When Mosul fell [in the summer], we knew something had to be done. Back then the concern was just holding Daesh back to keep Baghdad from falling. “The concern was ‘could Baghdad fall?’ We had to stop that immediate bleeding.”

    CJTF originally started as a combined forces land component command to protect personnel and equipment in Baghdad in the summer of 2014. As the situation evolved, so did the mission.

    From there it transitioned to a combined joint land component command, and finally, in the fall of 2014, the CJTF was fully operational, waging an air campaign against ISIL as indigenous forces brought the fight to ISIL.

    “There are a lot of processes ... it’s more than just ‘those are individuals put there,’ we can strike them,” said Roberts.

    In stark contrast to ISIL, the coalition has aimed to minimize its impact to civilian populations and regional infrastructure and heritage with a rigorous approval process.

    “[I’m] very conscious of any collateral damage or civilian casualties that are out there, so we have to ensure that we have a clearly identified hostile force that’s out there,” said Terry. “Our rules of engagement are exactly what we need to prosecute those fires.”

    However, those processes and this fight, at least in this direct of a role, ended for Terry, Roberts and the rest of the ARCENT team Sept. 19.

    At the helm now will be U.S. Army’s III Corps from Fort Hood, Texas.

    U.S. ARCENT will still provide support to OIR as the CFLCC, but it will continue its mission of conflict prevention in the region by partnering with military forces in the CENTCOM theater of operations.

    III Corps and the coalition will be charged with putting more pressure on ISIL and further enabling indigenous forces on the ground to deliver a lasting defeat against the terror group.

    “III Corps is a tremendous headquarters with a history of lineage of doing these kinds of things in the most complex environments out there,” said Terry. “I look forward to watching them taking this operational approach that we have and moving forward with the defeat of Daesh.”

    LEAVE A COMMENT

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 09.26.2015
    Date Posted: 09.26.2015 03:07
    Story ID: 177315
    Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

    Web Views: 247
    Downloads: 1

    PUBLIC DOMAIN