TOP 2014 STORIES

Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 — The United States has reported the destruction of scores of main battle tanks captured by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. Many of the tanks were reportedly of U.S. origin.

Officials said U.S.-led air strikes have eroded ISIL’s ground force capabilities in both Iraq and Syria. They said the daily air strikes targeted ISIL’s MBTs, armored personnel carriers and artillery captured from the Iraq Army in June 2014.

[Related — Tanks, copters and cash: Bank robberies in Mosul make ISIL ‘wealthiest terrorist franchise ever’, June 24]

“We’re no longer seeing them move around the country in large convoys,” the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin, said.

“Now they’re mostly traveling in civilian vehicles in smaller numbers. This is hindering their ability to mass and to shift combat power.”

In a briefing on Oct. 17, Austin did not report the number of MBTs and other combat vehicles destroyed in U.S.-led air strikes. Officials said the U.S. military estimated that ISIL seized 2,500 MBTs, APCs and Humvee infantry vehicles from Iraq Army bases around the northern city of Mosul.

Officials also said the air strikes knocked out ISIL’s communications network as well as command and control centers. But they acknowledged that ISIL still retained vast capabilities and continued to threaten the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

In his briefing, Austin said a major challenge was for the Iraq Army to secure its borders, particularly with Syria. The general acknowledged difficulties in reorganizing and training the army, at least five divisions of which collapsed in the ISIL offensive.

“The campaign to destroy ISIL will take time and there will be occasional setbacks along the way, and particularly in these early stages of the campaign as we coach and mentor a force that is actively working to regenerate capability after years of neglect and poor leadership,” Austin said.

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