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SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 27, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, 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

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes consisting of 18 engagements in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an oil wellhead.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed an oil pumpjack.

-- Near Raqqa, nine strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 10 oil refinement stills, five oil storage tanks, three oil pumpjacks, an ISIL-held building and two oil tanker trucks.

-- Near Tanf, a strike damaged an ISIL supply route.

Strikes in Iraq

Artillery as well as attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes consisting of 24 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Haditha, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed three vehicles, a rocket system and a vehicle-borne improvised bomb.

-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an unmanned-aerial-vehicle launch site and an ISIL-held building.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units; destroyed two ISIL headquarters, two vehicle-borne improvised bomb-making facilities, two barges, a fighting position, a tactical vehicle, a vehicle-borne improvised bomb, and an anti-air artillery system; and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a command-and-control node and an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do 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. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat it poses to Iraq, Syria, the region and the wider international community. The destruction of targets in Syria and Iraq further limits ISIL's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

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Counter-ISIL Strikes Hit Terrorists in Syria, Iraq > U.S. ... - Department of Defense

President Trump's hard-line on refugees is causing distress among some Seattle-area immigrants. One Iraqi Kurd, who served with the U.S. Army, fears he may not see his 76-year-old mother before she dies.

Alyas Saydo spread documents related to his service with the U.S. Army in Iraq across the coffee table in his Tukwila apartment: ID badges from the seven years he worked as an interpreter, certificates of appreciation, a glowing letter of recommendation.

It was Mr. Saydos devotion to duty that kept him working regardless of the day, length of mission, or personal risk, wrote 1st Sgt. Jeffrey Davis, describing the Iraqi Kurd as a man who puts service to coalition soldiers above all.

The recommendation helped Saydo immigrate to the U.S. in 2011 on a special visa reserved for those who worked with the American military. He was allowed to bring his wife and five children, but not other members of his family, including his mother. They would come later, he hoped.

Hes been waiting for more than five years and now he fears he could be waiting much longer, while his brother and 76-year-old mother, driven from their home by terrorists, live in tents in Iraqi Kurdistan.

As Saydo explained his familys situation, President Trump was expected as early as Friday to sign an order suspending the flow of all refugees to the U.S. for 120 days and indefinitely bannig Syrian refugees while his administration evaluated screening measures. The president is also expected to temporarily bar entry to anyone from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Even when those measures are lifted, Trump is likely to order that the U.S. accept just 50,000 refugees in fiscal year 2017, according to a widely circulated draft. The country had previously committed to taking in 110,000 refugees.

There are a lot of bad guys, acknowledged Saydo, 50. He said he has no problem with the U.S. government looking into peoples backgrounds and taking their fingerprints.

But he seemed stunned by Trumps move. He cant change [policy] this quick, he said.

Other local refugees, and those who work with them, also expressed dismay.

If the presidential executive action suspends or reduces refugee resettlement even for a short time period, it will disrupt the lives of refugee families in our communities, said Sarah Peterson, chief of the state Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance, in a statement. Most refugees arriving in Washington state are joining family members that are already here.

She also pointed out that the expected order would delay visas for people who, like Saydo, worked with the U.S. military. In fiscal 2016, these special visas allowed 610 people to come to Washington.

In all, the state took in roughly 3,900 refugees in fiscal 2016, including 165 from Syria and more than 1,000 from the seven countries likely to be singled out by Trump.

Trumps actions will affect more than those coming from Muslim countries.

The biggest group coming right now are Ukrainians, said Beth Farmer, who heads refugee and asylum programs across the north Puget Sound for Lutheran Community Services. Ukraines conflict with Russia brought nearly 800 refugees here in fiscal year 2016.

Many of the people Farmer employs are refugees themselves. As she walked around her SeaTac office, she introduced staffers from Somalia, Moldova, Afghanistan and Iraq. The skills they bring with them theyre incredibly talented, she said as she paused by Abdi Hassan, a Somali native who worked for the United Nations for 25 years on health and development programs.

Some staffers worry about their family members, given the likely presidential order. Hamed Hakimkhel, who came here on a special visa after working for the American Embassy in his native Afghanistan, said his brother-in-law has been waiting, waiting, waiting for his own special visa to come here. The brother-in-law worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army.

Because of that, nobody wants to hire his brother-in-law now, and he and his family are targets for extremists, Hakimkhel said. The children have even been lying at school when asked about their family background. I dont know how long they can continue, Hakimkhel said.

A Kurdish mental-health counselor, who asked to be known by his initials, R.A., because of danger to his family back home, said one woman he knew worked for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Two of her brothers were killed when her familys house was attacked. A sister was kidnapped. The mother is still waiting for her [refugee] case to be processed and shes over 80 years old, R.A. said.

Saydos family members in Kurdistan have faced risks not only because of his association with the U.S. military but because they are Yazidis, a religious minority that the fundamentalist Islamic State group (ISIS) would like to wipe out. In 2014, after Saydo settled here, ISIS attacked his home village, killing thousands and taking women as sex slaves.

His mother and brother, luckily on the other side of a mountain from where the terrorists began their attack, escaped. They both now live in a Kurdish encampment for displaced people.

Even before this weeks news about a presidential order, Saydo was frustrated by the lack of action on his application to bring them here. I would like to see my mother before she dies, he wrote in a letter late last year to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

As the security-clearance process for his mother and brother drags on, they have to keep updating their medical information. To get the necessary tests, they must travel six hours, through ISIS-controlled territory.

The trip, possible only by taxi and requiring a hotel stay, costs hundreds of dollars each time. Saydo, who works for a local interpreting service as well as a security firm, sends money home.

On Thursday morning, over sweet tea served by his wife, it was not clear to Saydo just how much extra delay an executive order might bring or even whether there would be a delay at all. The draft indicates that Trump may make an exception for those facing religious persecution.

But the draft doesnt say who, exactly, might be exempted, and Saydos concern was causing him to reassess his impression of Trump. When he was elected, we were very happy, he said of his family. Trump, they believed, was likely to act more aggressively against terrorism in Iraqi Kurdistan than President Obama had.

It looks like we were wrong, Saydo said of their pro-Trump views.

Soon to become a citizen, he plans to vote in the next election, and he said his familys fate may influence his decisions.

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Trump's plan for refugees worries Tukwila man with mom in Iraq camp - The Seattle Times

Common Dreams

Torture Works...to Produce Fake News (And That's How We Got Into Iraq) Common Dreams I told this story back in 2005 but it is a good story, has held up, and bears repeating now that President Trump is again promoting torture as effective. Torture is a good way to get people to tell you what they think you want to hear so that you ... and more »

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Torture Works...to Produce Fake News (And That's How We Got Into Iraq) - Common Dreams

NEW YORK (Reuters) Iraqis who say their lives are in danger because they worked with the U.S. government in Iraq fear their chances of finding refuge in the United States may vanish under a new order signed on Friday by President Donald Trump.

The order temporarily suspends the United States main refugee program and halts visas being issued to citizens of several predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq. It is expected to affect two programs U.S. lawmakers created a few years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq to help the tens of thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives helping Americans.

READ MORE:Trump signs order barring many refugees, but Syrian Christians may receive priority

Trump says the order is necessary to prevent Islamist militants from coming to the United States posing as refugees, but refugee advocacy groups say the lengthy screening of applicants by multiple U.S. agencies makes this fear unfounded.

Iraqis coming to the United States under the Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis, which stopped accepting new applications in 2014, or the ongoing Direct Access Program for U.S.-Affiliated Iraqis are losing hope of ever getting out.

Mr. Trump, the new president, killed our dreams, said one Baghdad man whose wife worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a bookkeeper.

WATCH:No ban, no wall, New Yorkers for all: council on American-Islamic relations organizes protest Trumps orders on immigration

I dont have any hope to go to the United States, he said in a telephone interview, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by Iraqs Sunni and Shia militant groups and also of unfavorable treatment by the Trump administration.

More than 7,000 Iraqis, many of them interpreters for the U.S. military, have resettled in the United States under the Special Immigrant Visa program since 2008, while another 500 or so are still being processed, according to State Department figures. Another 58,000 Iraqis were awaiting interviews under the Direct Access program, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project. Tens of thousands have already arrived under the second program, but no recent total was available.

READ MORE:How Donald Trumps immigration policies could impact Canada

A lot of translators were trying to get the hell out of there because they had a mark on their head for working with U.S. forces, Allen Vaught, a former U.S. Army captain who went to Fallujah in western Iraq in 2003, said in a telephone interview. Theyre viewed as collaborators.

He fears the order would endanger American troops by making it harder to recruit local support in war zones, a belief echoed by several advocacy groups working on behalf of Americas Iraqi employees.

While in Iraq, Vaught employed five local interpreters who initially earned $5 a week traveling with troops, sometimes without weapons or armor. He helped two of the interpreters come to the United States as refugees with their families, putting them up initially in his home in Dallas, Texas. Another two were executed by militia groups, he said.

WATCH:Islamic radical terrorism needs to be eradicated just off the face of the Earth: Trump

The fifth was still mired in the refugee screening process, which can last months or years even after the initial interview. Vaught had expected to also welcome him into his home this year before he had seen a draft of Trumps order.

This executive order is based on ignorance and fear, he said. And you do not lead a country with ignorance and fear.

IRAQIS STRANDED

In Baghdad, the Iraqi man waiting for a visa recalled U.S, soldiers had laughed at his concerns, telling him the United States is too big a democracy to be changed on the decision of one person like Trump, he said. But he now wonders if the soldiers were right.

In 2013, a USAID official encouraged his family to apply as refugees under the Direct Access program. He checked in every week or so, but is still waiting word on an appointment at the U.S. consulate for the necessary interview.

WATCH:Islamic group calls Trumps anti-Muslim immigration plan a fearmongering tactic

The same year he filed his application, he was shot in the head while driving to work, hospitalizing him for a month and leaving him deaf in one ear. He connected that to the threats that had often flashed as text messages on his cellphone, sent by Islamist militants angered by his wifes work for USAID.

Others in Iraq remained hopeful they would eventually get out.

READ MORE:Israel ramps up West Bank settlement-building after Donald Trump inauguration

An Iraqi man who worked for a U.S. defense contractor and later alongside U.S. troops as a mid-ranking Iraqi Army officer, recalled his excitement at getting the phone call a few weeks ago telling him that his family had an interview appointment at the U.S. consulate after two years and four applications.

He was hopeful it would still take place in mid-February, believing that American officials would be concerned about the threats to his family. He was unaware that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday temporarily halted trips by staff to interview applicants.

I believe this is politics, things you hear on the news, he told Reuters by phone from Baghad on condition of anonymity. I dont think they would prevent Iraqis coming to America.

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Iraqis who risked lives helping U.S. in Iraq fear being left stranded by Trump refugee ban - Globalnews.ca

WASHINGTON -- No one knows how seriously to take President Donald Trumps threat to seize Iraqs oil.

Doing so would involve extraordinary costs and risk confrontation with Americas best ground partner against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but the president told the CIA this weekend, Maybe youll have another chance.

The recycled campaign comment is raising concerns about Mr. Trumps understanding of the delicate Middle East politics involved in the U.S.-led effort against extremist groups. Mr. Trump has said he was opposed to the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Husseins dictatorship. But on the campaign trail and again on Saturday, the day after his inauguration, he suggested the costly and deadly occupation of the country might have been offset somewhat if the United States had taken the countrys rich petroleum reserves.

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On a visit to CIA headquarters on Saturday, President Donald Trump shifted the focus of his remarks to his inaugural attendence and the media. CB...

To the victor belong the spoils, Mr. Trump told members of the intelligence community, saying he first argued this case for economic reasons. He said it made sense as a counterterrorism approach to defeating ISIS because thats where they made their money in the first place.

So we should have kept the oil, he said. But, OK, maybe youll have another chance.

The statement ignores the precedent of hundreds of years of American history and presidents who have tended to pour money and aid back into countries the United States has fought in major wars. The U.S. still has troops in Germany and Japan, with the permission of those nations, but did not take possession of their natural resources.

Taking Iraqs reserves, the worlds fifth largest, would require an immense investment of resources and manpower in a country that the United States couldnt quell after spending more than $2 trillion and deploying at one point more than 170,000 troops.

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U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are making gains against ISIS in Mosul, which has been an ISIS stronghold since 2014. CBS News made it into recently-lib...

U.S. enemies and friends would oppose the move. While Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has accepted U.S. help to retake ISIS-held territory in his country, he has repeatedly asserted Iraqi sovereignty. He said of Mr. Trumps oil vow in November, I am going to judge him by what he does later.

Asked about Mr. Trumps comments, al-Abadi told an Iraqi television channel on Tuesday, It wasnt clear what he meant.

Did he mean in 2003 or to prevent the terrorists from seizing Iraqs oil? It was not clear to us, but definitely Iraqs oil is constitutionally the property of the Iraqis and anything on the contrary is unacceptable, the Iraqi leader said. I do not think that there is any official in the world who can claim something that he does not have.

Asked about the matter on Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer stressed Mr. Trumps economic argument.

We want to be sure our interests are protected, he told reporters. Were going into a country for a cause. He wants to be sure America is getting something out of it for the commitment and sacrifice it is making.

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President-elect Donald Trump is feuding with outgoing CIA director John Brennan, who said Trump's off the cuff style of speaking and tweeting is ...

There is uncertainty as to where Mr. Trumps idea derives from, though the president has noted that taking the oil is something I have long said. Hints of this notion existed in some of the pre-2003 rhetoric from the Bush administration about the Iraq war paying for itself. But top advisers to President George W. Bush have stressed how the future of Iraqs resources were pointedly left out of decision-making related to the invasion so as not to fuel a perception that the war was driven by oil concerns.

Bush almost bent over backwards not to make a special effort to gain access for us to the oil resources, John Negroponte, who was Bushs director of national intelligence, told CNN.

Regarding Mr. Trump, former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told NBC, I have no clue what hes talking about.

Taking the oil would require a permanent U.S. occupation, or at least until Iraqs 140 billion barrels of crude run out, and a large presence of American soldiers to guard sometimes isolated oil fields and infrastructure. Such a mission would be highly unpopular with Iraqis, whose hearts and minds the U.S. is still try to win to defeat groups such as ISIS and al Qaeda.

This is totally wrong, said Zaher Aziz, a 42-year-old owner of a market stand in Irbil. They came here by themselves and occupied Iraq. And now they want the Iraqis to pay for that?

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There's been a new focus in the U.S.-led coalition's bombing strategy to target more of ISIS oil infrastructure, which is thought to be generatin...

However unrealistic Mr. Trumps suggestion, intelligence officials believe more has to be done to cut off ISIS oil revenues. The group seized significant oil when it stormed across Syrias border in 2014 and seized the city of Mosul and large swaths of Iraqi territory. The Treasury Department estimated that ISIS raked in $500 million from oil and gas sales in 2015. That figure is likely lower now as a result of U.S.-led operations, but officials say oil continues to fund the groups recruitment and far-flung terrorist activities.

In terms of oil helping establish ISIS, of course thats oversimplification, said Hassan Hassan, co-author of the book ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror.

He said oil was a small part of the groups origins and early years, when it morphed from an al Qaeda branch to an organization claiming a worldwide caliphate.

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Is Trump hoping to seize Iraq's oil reserves? - CBS News