70 Prisoners Freed in Joint U.S.-Kurdish Raid, One U.S. Soldier Killed

U.S. Special Operations Forces and Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga conducted a joint raid on an Islamic State prison in Hawija, Iraq, on Thursday. Defense officials say valuable intelligence on Islamic State operations was recovered and nearly 70 prisoners were recovered, though not the individuals U.S. and Kurdish forces expected to find. One U.S. soldier was killed in the attack, the first U.S. combat death in Iraq since 2011. Three Kurdish fighters were wounded.

U.S. involvement in the operation was authorized by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and the White House was informed of the plan. The Baghdad government was not notified in advance of the operation. The Peshmerga “were going with or without us,” a U.S. defense official told the New York Times. “We wanted to stand behind an important ally.” U.S. Special Operations Forces have conducted operations against the Islamic State in Syria, as when they captured senior Islamic State figure Abu Sayyaf in May, but this is the first reported incident of U.S. forces participating in combat in Iraq. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook stressed that the raid does not prefigure a greater combat role for the United States. “This was a unique circumstance in which very close partners of the United States made a specific request for our assistance,” he said. “So I would not suggest that this is something that’s going to now happen on a regular basis.”

Russian Air Campaign in Syria Faces Criticism amid Push for Diplomacy

Russia’s air campaign in Syria is facing growing international criticism. The International Committee for the Red Cross noted on Wednesday that  airstrikes were making it more difficult to reach areas in need of medical aid, and on Thursday the Syrian-American Medical Society, which operates several medical facilities in Syria, said at least nine hospitals have been hit by Russian bombs. Speaking before the U.N. Security Council yesterday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power condemned Russia’s campaign, which she said is adding to the deaths and displacement of civilians and strengthening the Islamic State. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this morning for preliminary talks before meeting with Saudi and Turkish officials to discuss the situation in Syria. A Russian official suggested yesterday that Moscow supports early elections in Syria designed to give Bashar al-Assad a political mandate.

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Headlines

• Despite U.N.-sponsored talks set to begin soon, intense fighting continues in Taiz, Yemen, where Houthi rebels have pelted the city with rockets and the Saudi intervention force has responded with airstrikes.

• Two armed Palestinian men stabbed an Israeli at a bus stop in Beit Shemesh after being prevented from boarding a bus with children aboard; both attackers were apprehended after being wounded by police.

• After talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State says he has “a cautious measure of optimism” about next steps to deescalate Israeli-Palestinian conflict; on Thursday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest criticized Netanyahu’s recent controversial remarks on the Holocaust, saying that “the inflammatory rhetoric needs to stop.”

• A roadside bomb killed an Egyptian police officer and wounded three soldiers as they traveled in an armored vehicle to a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula.

• Turkey is seeing evidence of a new wave of refugees fleeing the increased fighting in Aleppo as Russian- and Iranian-backed Assad regime forces attempt to retake the city, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Arguments and Analysis

“Can we expect real political reform in the Maghreb any time soon?” (Sarah Yerkes, Markaz)

“While the White House and the State Department rhetorically support democratic reform and have publicly praised Tunisia’s success pretty effusively, the U.S. government’s distribution of aid dollars does not match that rhetoric. In particular, the relatively low levels of both military and economic support for Tunisia belie a genuine desire to support Tunisia’s efforts to consolidate its democratic gains. This contradiction is particularly stark when juxtaposed with the billion-dollar aid packages going to Egypt and Jordan despite authoritarian backsliding in the first case and a lack of democratic progress in the second. Certainly each case is unique and Jordan, in particular, faces a very different set of challenges from Tunisia. But if the administration is serious about supporting political reform, it should back up that rhetorical support with a consistent and substantial aid package.”

“ISIS Fighting Turkey Fighting Kurds” (Sarabrynn Hudgins, New America Foundation)

“A government coalition never came together after the inconclusive June election, so President Erdogan announced a snap election to take place on November 1st. Given the recent anti-Kurdish crackdown, Kurds are likely to assemble against the AKP even more decidedly than they did in June. And with Kurds comprising approximately 20 percent of Turkey’s nearly 80 million people, the AKP may be facing the ire of 16 million seething Kurds. Leaders like Erdogan would be wise to ease tensions with the Kurds, if only for their own electoral chances. Unfortunately, it’s not just politics hanging in the balance, but actual violence. Of course ISIS’s suicide bombings are a major and immediate threat to Turkish security, but Turkey has been foolhardy to inflame the Kurdish situation, effectively instigating a second front of its war effort. Turkey should recommit itself to securing the peace process just as it focuses on undermining ISIS. Otherwise, civil strife will harm Turkey even after ISIS is gone.”

-J. Dana Stuster

MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images