{"id":24869,"date":"2016-04-25T00:31:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T00:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/isis-facing-double-strike-by-british-special\/"},"modified":"2016-04-25T00:31:36","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T00:31:36","slug":"isis-facing-double-strike-by-british-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/isis-facing-double-strike-by-british-special\/","title":{"rendered":"ISIS facing double strike by British special forces in Iraq and Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"

{British special forces troops are poised to launch a lethal two-pronged strike against Islamic State in Iraq and Libya within weeks.}<\/p>\n

Several hundred SAS and SBS troops are in each country and they have joined forces with their French and US \u00adcounterparts.<\/p>\n

American B-52 bombers flew into a secret Qatar base days ago to prepare for aerial attacks on the terrorists\u2019 position in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.<\/p>\n

Sources have said that military planners have earmarked the SAS , leading about 70,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops, for an assault on the IS-held city.<\/p>\n

Special forces have carried out missions in Iraq for years and teams on the ground will be equipped with emergency chemical warfare clothing.<\/p>\n

They will also help co-ordinate the B-52 attacks and report on bomb damage.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile RAF Tornado bombers and Typhoon fighters will fly from Cyprus to smash fleeing IS vehicles or stop reinforcements reaching Mosul.<\/p>\n

The attack may also cut off IS forces from their Syrian stronghold in Raqqa.<\/p>\n

In a matter of weeks, air strikes \u2013 some launched by RAF fighter bombers \u2013 have killed more than 25,000 IS jihadis in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n

IS has been attacked across northern Iraq, losing its key city of Ramadi west of Baghdad in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

A senior source said: \u201cOur people [UK special forces] have been at the forefront in dismantling IS across northern Iraq and Syria and are already preparing the ground for the battle to recapture Mosul.\u201d<\/p>\n

British SBS commandos, who have been in Libya for many months, will co-ordinate assaults against IS, which has more than 5,000 fighters at Sirte on the coast and has attacked oilfields.<\/p>\n

An SBS task force will identify targets for Predator drone strikes and F-15 Strike Eagle fighters, which are on permanent readiness to deploy as they did in February when they eliminated a top al-Qaeda commander.<\/p>\n

The extremists, who have already been targeted by US psychological warfare specialists, are preparing to wage jihad across North Africa and secure more land to expand their \u201ccaliphate\u201d.<\/p>\n

The simultaneous attacks on Iraq and Libya are designed to cause maximum impact and disruption against IS to \u00adcapitalise on its losses in northern Iraq.<\/p>\n

A senior source said: \u201cThe Coalition air campaign is crushing Islamic State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim now is to get into Mosul, capture Raqqa and at the same time strike at Sirte in Libya, so there is no escape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Special<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{British special forces troops are poised to launch a lethal two-pronged strike against Islamic State in Iraq and Libya within weeks.} Several hundred SAS and SBS troops are in each country and they have joined forces with their French and US \u00adcounterparts. American B-52 bombers flew into a secret Qatar base days ago to prepare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[2598],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-24869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-daily-mirror"],"bylines":[{"id":2598,"name":"Daily Mirror","slug":"daily-mirror","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2598,"name":"Daily Mirror","slug":"daily-mirror","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24869"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=24869"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=24869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}