Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has shifted its air combat fleet assets to expand the war effort against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Officials said the U.S. military has been ordered to transfer aircraft and other resources from Afghanistan to the Middle East to bolster air strikes on ISIL in Iraq and Syria. They said the U.S. Air Force has been moving such assets as the A-10 ground-attack aircraft and Reaper combat unmanned aerial vehicle to bases in Kuwait.

“The first combat aircraft for the newly reactivated 332ndAir Expeditionary Group landed here over several days during the week of Nov. 17-21,” the U.S. Air Force said.

The transfer of military assets was meant to increase pressure on the ISIL presence in northern Iraq.

Officials said the daily U.S.-led air strikes on ISIL positions and convoys have enabled successful operations by the Iraq Army and Kurdish forces in such provinces as Anbar and Nineveh.

So far, at least 12 A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft, once targeted for retirement by the air force, have been transferred to Kuwait, which hosts the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East. Officials said up to 10 Reaper UAVs were also being prepared for transfer to Kuwait by the end of 2014.

“We need to have more targeting capability than they have right now,” Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

Officials said the U.S.-led coalition has sought to improve operations against ISIL. They said the operations were enhanced from a low in September 2014 when only 10 percent of coalition aircraft found their targets.

“The administration’s strategy for dealing with the Islamic State is more of the same: limited air strikes at great expense for questionable results,” the Lexington Institute, a think tank, said.

  drones from Afghanistan to expand war on ISIL, U.S. transfers jet fighters, WorldTribune.com