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Islamic State Hit Again

The United States launched a second round of air-strikes, hours after an initial strike by F/A-18 Hornets hit an artillery position used by the Islamic State. The strikes took place near Irbil, where Kurdish forces have gathered to hold off the terrorist group.

According to a statement by the Pentagon, the first strike involved the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle, which attacked a mortar position manned by fighters with the Islamic State. The strike reportedly took place at 10 AM this morning.

An hour and twenty minutes later, four F/A-18 Hornets carried out a strike against Islamic State forces, hitting both a convoy and a mortar position. The Hornets made two attacks, each plane dropping a single laser-guided bomb per attack. The strike fighters were based off the carrier USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77).

Retired General Barry McCaffrey, a two-time Distinguished Service Cross recipient who commanded the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Operation Desert Storm, has criticized the initial air strike as being “pinpricks” that he characterized as being in response to “internal U.S. politics” as opposed to any military strategy.

“I think we have muddled thinking on what we're trying to achieve in Iraq, and so these pinprick strikes...if you're going to protect refugees, 50,000 people without water and food, you don't do two F/A-18 strikes on an artillery unit somewhere in the vicinity,” McCaffrey said on MSNBC before the latest air strikes became public.