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This picture taken 26 December 2011 shows the Pentagon building in Washington, DC

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WASHINGTON -- The White House is giving the Pentagon greater flexibility to determine the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, in another move by President Donald Trump to shift greater power to his military leaders.

The decision will give Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to send more forces into Syria, to assist U.S.-backed local troops as they move to retake Raqqa from the Islamic State group, which has used the city as a de facto capital.

It will also let him adjust the force numbers in Iraq, in the ongoing fight to oust the Islamic State group from Mosul and stabilize it as the rebuilding begins.

The Pentagon has already been making quiet, incremental additions to the troop levels in both countries in recent months, adding hundreds of Marines in Syria to provide artillery support, and sending more advisers into Iraq to work with units closer to the fight in Mosul. Those moves were done with White House approval, but without any formal adjustment to the longstanding troop caps that had been set by the Obama administration.

Dana White, chief spokesperson for the Pentagon, said Wednesday that Mattis has not made any changes yet to the current authorized force levels.

Under the Obama White House, military leaders chafed about micromanagement that forced commanders to get approvals for routine tactical decisions and personnel moves. They also had to provide justification for any troops sent into war zones. Commanders have argued that they should be able to determine troop deployments based on the military capabilities they believe are needed at any given time.

The new authority will provide greater transparency about the actual number of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria after several years of public confusion about the accurate totals. Under the Obama-mandated caps, the U.S. was limited to 503 officially deployed troops in Syria, and 5,262 in Iraq. The Pentagon, however, has closer to 7,000 in Iraq, and hundreds more than the cap in Syria, but doesn't count them because they are on temporary duty or not counted under specific personnel rules.

The change, however, could trigger concerns particularly in Iraq, where there are political sensitivities about the footprint of American and coalition troops and fears about occupation forces. Officials worry that if they publicly acknowledge there are thousands more troops there, it could fuel opposition and problems for the Iraqi government.

Trump's decision applies only to the two countries, and so far does not affect Afghanistan, although that change has also been discussed.

"This does not represent a change in our mission in Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIS," said White, using another name for the Islamic State group. She said the U.S. will continue to work through and with local forces, but that giving Mattis the authority to make troop-level decisions will allow commanders to be "more agile, adaptive and efficient in supporting our partners, and enables decisions that benefit unit readiness, cohesion and lethality."

She added that the change will allow the Pentagon be more open with Congress and the public.

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Trump gives Pentagon power to determine US troop levels in Iraq, Syria - CBS News

SOUTHWEST ASIA(ENEWSPF)April 28, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 28 strikes consisting of 53 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterdays strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 17 strikes consisting of 20 engagements against ISIS targets:

Additionally, a strike was conducted April 26 that closed within the last 24 hours:

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 47 engagements against ISIS targets:

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the groups ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Source: http://defense.gov

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Inherent Resolve Strikes Continue Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq, April 28, 2017 - eNews Park Forest

The Turkish government gavethe United States less than an hours notice before conducting strikes on partner forces in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, stepping up its criticism of airstrikes the United States said endangered American personnel.

Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman, said the lead time failed to provide adequate notice to reposition American forces or warn Kurdish groups with whom the United States is partnering against the Islamic States.

Thats not enough time. And this was notification, certainly not coordination as you would expect from a partner and an ally in the fight against ISIS, he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

American officials expressed indignation at the Turkish bombing, which killed as many as 20 Kurdish fighters in Syria and, according to the U.S. military, five Kurdish peshmerga troops in a coordinated attack across the border in northern Iraq. According to the Turkish government, both attacks targeted members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist group.

A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operations, described the assault as a massive, highly coordinated attack involving more than 25 strike aircraft.

In Syria, the Turkish jets targeted leadership sites used by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated force that has emerged as the United States primary military partner in Syria, according to a second U.S. official. Turkey has objected to that alliance because, it says, the SDFs largest component, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), is a PKK affiliate.

Despite the Turkish position, Dorrian signaled the United States would continue its support for the SDF, as it would for Iraqi government troops across the border.

Theseare forces that have been integral in fighting ISIS. Theyve been reliable in making progress against ISIS fighters under very difficult and dangerous conditions, he said. They have made many, many sacrifices to help defeat ISIS and that keeps the whole world safer. So that is our position on that.

In Syria, U.S. troops were within six miles of the targeted area, far enough to be out of danger but close enough to cause concern about the potential for unintended bloodshed, Dorrian said. While U.S. forces were not as close to the Turkish target area in Iraq, U.S. officials expressed criticism of the fact that the strike was conducted without the consent of the Iraqi government.

Dorrian spoke hours after the Turkish embassy in Washington issued a statement from the countrys Foreign Ministry detailing what it said were the steps Turkey took to make the United States and other countries active in Syria aware of its plans, saying the United States and Russia were duly informed through both military and diplomatic channels.

That included, the ministry said, notifying the U.S. air command center in Qatar and speaking with the head of the U.S. military. A spokesman for Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could not immediately confirm whether Dunford had spoken with the Turkish officer.

U.S. officials provided a different characterization of what occurred, saying that American personnel had immediately expressed their objections to the Turkish plans when they were notified.

Adding to the U.S. frustration, Dorrian said Turkey had provided only general information ahead of time about where the strikes would occur and who they would target. Less than an hour of notification is an inadequate amount of time to have our forces leave the ops box area that was identified which was a very large ops box, he said, referring to the area in which U.S. forces are operating. So it was an unsafe way to conduct operations.

Dorrian said thatthe United States has sent military personnel to the affected site in Syria to assess the damage to SDF forces.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.

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Pentagon expands rebuke of Turkey over Iraq, Syria strikes - Washington Post

PARIS Iraq will go with the consensus reached by OPEC when the oil exporter group meets in Vienna next month to discuss extending production cuts, the country's oil minister said on Thursday.

"Now we're going on the 25th of May to OPEC and we're definitely going to be in line with OPEC's final decision and collective decisions," Jabar al-Luaibi told a conference in Paris.

Iraq, the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was in full compliance with the OPEC-led supply pact reached last year and has achieved about 97 percent of its output reduction target, Luaibi said.

"Iraq is fully committed and Iraq is in full compliance with OPEC members," Luaibi said.

He added that the OPEC-led cuts were gradually leading to a long-awaited rebalancing of the oil market.

OPEC, Russia and other producers originally agreed to cut production by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) for six months from Jan. 1 to support the market and to bring a supply glut into check.

The producers are expected to prolong the pact for a further six months when they meet in May.

Luaibi said the OPEC decision to cut did not mean countries should stop developing their oil industries.

Earlier this month, Luaibi said Iraq planned to raise its oil output capacity to 5 million bpd before the end of the year.

(Writing by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Dale Hudson and David Goodman)

NEW YORK U.S. refiners have come out of maintenance season betting that big exports to Mexico and South America will help alleviate high product inventories and boost margins as the critical summer driving season nears.

CALGARY, Alberta As global oil majors pull out of Canada's oil sands, domestic companies are buying up assets and betting technology and economies of scale will enable them to turn a profit despite low crude prices.

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Iraq says will go with consensus at next OPEC meeting - Reuters

The hospital opened by Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF)in Qayyarah, Iraq, last December is around 35 miles (60 km) south of Mosul. Distant enough not to hear the sounds of airstrikes and rocket fire, but sufficiently close for the wounded to be brought in when medical facilities nearer the front line are no longer able to cope.

On February 18, the Iraqi army launched an offensive with the support of the U.S.-led coalition to retake west Mosul, the part of the city still under control of the so-called Islamic State.

The fighting has claimed many victims, and large numbers of people continue to flee from neighborhoods being gradually recaptured by the army. Some of those displaced by the fighting have ended up in camps in Qayyarah. The MSF team is now caring for patients from west Mosul, displaced persons camps, Qayyarah town, and the region.

The MSF team treats medical and surgical emergencies as the hospital in Qayyarah has an emergency room, operating theater and inpatient departments. The level of activity is intensebetween January and March, more than 3,750 patients were admitted to the emergency room.

A four-bed intensive care unit was recently opened to provide care for burn victims, patients in shock and other critical conditions.

The team in the emergency room sees patients wounded by airstrikes, explosions, mortar fire and land mines. Away from major roads, there are still mines that occasionally injure children, farm workers and shepherds. In west Mosul, whole families sometimes fall victim to the fighting.

Below, MSF emergency doctor Ana Leticiarecalls the story of a family caught in an explosion while trying to escape west Mosul.

The mother was in a state of shock when she arrived. Her 12-year old daughter looked after her younger brothers and sisters while waiting for her mother to be cared for by the MSF psychiatrist and get better.

MSF has set up mental health consultations in Qayyarah for patients from the hospital and displaced persons camps. The teama psychiatrist, two psychologists and a counsellortreat adults and children alike.

Psychiatrist Jolle Vernet set up the provision of mental health care in the hospital."People have endured extremely tough situations," says Vernet. "And they still dont feel at all safe, particularly as the bombing hasnt stopped and there are soldiers and the sound of gunfire everywhere. They live in fear, theyre scared of reprisals. They dont know what they can say or who they can say it to."

Many child patients are suffering from intense distress and displaying behavioral issues as a result, she says. "It was even harder for the parentsin reality mostly mothers, as the fathers were no longer with them. They didnt have the strength to cope with their childrens pain and emotions. So our work was not just treating the child, but also treating the mother too, and child and mother together.

MSF hospital in Qayyarah is currently the only hospital structure properly set up to receive children in the area of Ninewa. Around half of all patients receiving treatment in the emergency room are under the age of 15.

Of the 192 patients who attended a mental health consultation from the beginning of February to mid-April, 30 were children under the age of 13.

8-year-old Duha and her family lived in west Mosul. Last month, their home was hit in an airstrike. Her mother, father and 16 other people in the house at the time were all killed in the bombing.

Duha was the sole survivor. A neighbor dug her out of the rubble, but her head, hands and one leg were severely burned. She now lives in east Mosul with her uncle who brings her to the hospital regularly to have her dressings changed.

As the Iraqi army advanced into west Mosul, many families were able to escape. The MSF team has been seeing children with acute malnutrition, affected by food shortages in besieged West Mosul.

To treat malnourished children, MSF has set up a 12-bed therapeutic feeding center in Qayyarah hospital. Most of the children are under six months old, explains Ana Leticia, MSF emergency doctor.

Since the start of the military offensive to recapture Mosul in October 2016, MSF teams have increased medical and humanitarian assistance in Ninewa governorate. Across the country, MSF is working alongside Iraqi health staff in 10 governorates to ensure that the population has access to emergency medical care, including mother and child care.

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Iraq: MSF treating emergencies in Qayyarah hospital - Doctors Without Borders