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SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 5, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 23 strikes consisting of 70 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

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

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 20 strikes consisting of 38 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed an ISIS wellhead and an ISIS oil manifold.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, six strikes destroyed 90 ISIS oil barrels, 10 ISIS oil refinery stills, five vehicles, four ISIS oil separation tanks and three ISIS wellheads.

-- Near Raqqa, 11 strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions and five vehicles.

-- Near Tanf, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two tactical vehicles and two ISIS vehicles.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of 32 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed 15 fighting positions, two rocket-propelled-grenade systems, two medium machine guns, an ISIS tactical vehicle and an ISIS staging area; damaged six fighting positions and a vehicle-borne bomb; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

June 3 Strikes

Additionally, five strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on June 3 that closed within the last 24 hours:

-- Near Raqqa, Syria, three strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units, destroyed 10 fighting positions and damaged an ISIS-held building.

-- Near Mosul, Iraq, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed 14 fighting positions, a vehicle-borne bomb, a vehicle-borne-bomb staging area and a supply route; and suppressed a fighting position.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

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 group's 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.

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Strikes Continue Against ISIS Targets in Iraq, Syria - Department of Defense

Uber has delayed a previously-scheduled discussion with its employees about the workplace culture report it commissioned after allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, Axios has learned from multiple sources.

The investigation had been led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and submitted last Wednesday to a subcommittee of Uber's board of directors. Many employees had been told to expect details during the company's weekly all-hands meeting on Tuesday (i.e., tomorrow), but word just came down that such information would not yet be forthcoming.

What happened? Uber PR declined to discuss the change in plans, but it's possible that the timing was affected by CEO Travis Kalanick's recent family tragedy.

Why it matters: Uber's aggressive reputation took a particularly ugly turn in February, when former site reliability engineer Susan Fowler published a detailed account of sexual harassment, discrimination, and Uber's refusal to address her complaints. Holder's report is expected to address these claims, plus broader issues of workplace inclusion and diversity. It also will be viewed in many quarters as a stand-in for Silicon Valley tech companies, as a whole.

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ISIS surrenders another key town in Iraq - Axios

Larry Summers, the Harvard professor, former Treasury secretary, and National Economic Council director, has a piece in Mondays Washington Post that that makes a very big claim: The steady progress of human civilization could now stop and go into reverse.

In the last three-quarters of a century, the world has steadily become a safer, healthier, richer place, he writes.

But President Donald Trump may be a tipping point. In particular, his actions in the past two weeks failing, as Summers writes, to convincingly reaffirm traditional U.S. security commitments to NATO and abandoning participation in the Paris global climate agreement may inflict such severe economic consequences as to alter the course of human progress.

Pulling out of Paris is also such a failure of moral leadership, he writes, that it is probably our most consequential error since the Iraq War.

As I wrote last week, Trumps decision on Paris was cruel in the message it sends about how America values the environment, and how little it now cares about the risks climate change poses to the planet. Though the doomsayers like Summers could turn out to be wrong, many, many experts believe it is likely to prove incredibly damaging to Americas strategic position in the world, our militarys operations, and our standing in international negotiations.

The damage could unfold for years to come not just for US diplomacy but also for US companies that want to do business overseas. Our business partners in Europe, for instance, may decide to penalize US companies with tariffs for the scientific backwardness of our leader.

And national security experts today say they are worried about how the decision creates a strategic penalty that will damage US national security in a number of ways.

This strategic penalty will come in terms of strained cooperation with our partners and allies who are dismayed and insulted by the move, as well as in terms of our strategic strength vis--vis our competitors and adversaries in the world, said Francesco Femia, co-president of the Center for Climate and Security, a security think tank. These competitors and adversaries will likely seize on this decision to expand their influence at our expense, whether that's in the Asia-Pacific, the Arctic, the Middle East and North Africa, or anywhere else the US is engaged. It's a blow to our leadership, and that will take time and great effort to recover from.

These are not things that Trump is apparently worried about but they may very well affect people close to him, like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in the near future. And more broadly, this move on Paris will be a stain on his presidency and could prevent his ability to do business and expand the Trump brand for years to come.

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Exiting Paris probably our most consequential error since the Iraq War, economist says - Vox

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region Kurdish President Masoud Barzani discussed the future of Iraq in a meeting with the leader of a newly-founded Sunni party that seeks greater autonomy for Sunni areas.

Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraqs vice-president and the head of the United for Iraq or Mutahidun party, discussed with Barzani Iraqs political landscape post-ISIS, next years general elections, and the danger of the disappearance of the consensus and partnership, a statement from the Kurdish presidency read on Monday.

Political consensus, as opposed to majority-government, has been the basis of the formation of the Iraqi central government since the US-invasion of the country in 2003. The arrangement has meant sharing key governmental positions among the country's components.

The Shiite National Alliance, a coalition of Shiite parties, currently holds the prime ministry and key ministerial positions including the Interior and Foreign Ministries. Sunni factions hold the parliament speaker position and the important Defense Ministry. Kurds have the presidency, but other key positions allocated to Kurds remain vacant, including the Finance Ministry after its minister Hoshyar Zebari was voted out by the Iraqi parliament last year.

A new initiative, supported by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, head of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis Dawa party, seeks to form a majority government. Kurds have strongly opposed this, seeing it as against the principles of the new Iraqi state.

The KDP has already announced that they may boycott Iraqs elections next year, an unprecedented move by a major Kurdish party not seen since the fall of the Baath regime 14 years ago.

Before the general elections take place, the Kurdistan Region plans to hold a referendum on independence. The vote is expected to be held in the fall and will include disputed areas claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, almost all of which are located in Sunni areas, including Kirkuk and Nineveh.

The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Salim al-Jabouri, a Sunni politician, said last month that they are standing in full force against any project that seeks to turn Iraq into small states, saying those who want to do so should seek life elsewhere.

Iraq is one and will not be divided and anyone who seeks life outside this country should start looking for another country, Jabouri said in a conference in Baghdad held for Iraqi Turkmens and attended by other politicians including Ammar al-Hakim, head of the ruling Shiite National Alliance.

We will be absolutely against any idea of dividing or disintegrating the country under any name or excuse by this party or that, hiding behind and using the constitution to justify their ambitions and turning Iraq into small states at the mercy of regional wolves, Jabouri declared, not mentioning any one party.

In addition to Kurdistan Region independence aspirations, some Sunni politicians from Mosul have called for a regional government in Nineveh similar to that of the Kurdistan Region.

Continue reading here:
Barzani and Sunni leader discuss post-ISIS Iraq politics - Rudaw

Stars and Stripes

Soldier whose stolen-valor scam began in Iraq will end in prison Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON After lying about a rocket in Iraq, post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury; after bilking 16 agencies out of more than $600,000; and after copping to two counts of fraud last year, former National Guard soldier Darryl Lee ...

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Soldier whose stolen-valor scam began in Iraq will end in prison - Stars and Stripes