FOX News and other agencies report that ISIS may have taken possession of a Syrian military surface-to-air missile system when the terrorists recaptured the historic city of Palmyra, the top U.S. general in Iraq told Pentagon reporters Wednesday. ISIS retook Palmyra over the weekend after Syrian regime troops escaped in a hurry, leaving behind a trove of weapons. “We believe it includes some armored vehicles and various guns and other heavy weapons, possibly some air defense equipment,” Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said. “Anything they seized poses a threat to the coalition.”
According to EIN News, President Obama today assembled his National Security Council for a periodic update on progress the United States and our 68-member Global Coalition have achieved toward degrading and destroying ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. The formulaic media communique about the meeting provides no significant details of the proceedings.
A U.S. Air Force communique describes a new technology which the air force says it is using against ISIS: EC-130H Compass Call. ““When the Compass Call is up on station supporting our Iraqi allies, we are denying (ISIL’s) ability to command and control their forces, to coordinate attacks,” said Lt. Col. Josh Koslov, the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Attack Squadron commander. “If you can’t talk, you can’t fight. It’s very simple.” In order to target and jam those communications, the EC-130H employs roughly a dozen Airmen. This includes a standard C-130 flight crew on the flight deck, in addition to a contingent of electronic warfare officers and linguists in the rear of the aircraft. Each of these individuals is a piece in accomplishing the mission. The article further notes that there are only 14 EC-130Hs across the entire Air Force. That relatively small number of aircraft, coupled with the sheer volume of mission requirements levied upon it, makes the Compass Call a low density, high demand asset.