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2022-02-17 Southeast Asia
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Filipino Officials: US Ready to Provide More Anti-Terror Assistance to Philippines
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[BenarNews] The United States is prepared to increase bilateral assistance for Manila’s fight against violent mostly peaceful Death Eater groups, military officials here said Wednesday, after a top American special forces general met in the southern Philippines with the chief Filipino commander for Mindanao.
Lt. Gen. Bryan Fenton, commanding general of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), gave the assurance during talks with Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario Jr., head of the Philippine military’s Western Mindanao Command, in Zamboanga city on Tuesday, WestMinCom officials said in a statement.
The visit by the general who oversees JSOC, a secretive U.S. military branch, took place 12 days after Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi (also known as Hajji Abdullah), the worldwide leader of the Islamic State
Continued from Page 2
 ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
terror group, was killed during a mission carried out in Syria by American special operations personnel.
"More assistance will be extended by the United States of America to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as it counters terrorism," Fenton said, according to the statement from WestMinCom.
"We admire your strategic and operational approaches in fighting against the terror groups that threaten international security. We are here to solidify further our alliance for the common good," the statement quoted the American general as saying.
"Our partnership is grounded on our Iron-clad commitment to shared security. We will continue to work hand-in-hand to eradicate the Death Eaters and terrorists," Fenton said.
WestMinCom did not give any specifics, but the Filipino side said that Fenton vowed to "sustain the strong cooperation" between the militaries of both countries. American troops are "committed in assisting" the Filipino command against enemy groups in the south, the statement said.
For his part, Rosario said that the Philippine military was committed to boosting the "good relationship as we work together to fight against terror."
The meeting between the Filipino and American generals was closed to news hounds and limited only to military officials, with the WestMinCom citing security reasons and health protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 2002 and 2010, hundreds of American forces were stationed on a rotating basis in Zamboanga, as part of the U.S. government’s global war on terrorism that followed the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
American personnel were barred from actual combat operations, but provided training and intelligence support to the Filipinos as they hunted the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
, a small group of bully boyz responsible for terror attacks and abductions in the south during the early 2000s.
One Abu Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon, went on to become the Islamic State’s regional commander. In 2017, he led Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern bully boyz in a siege of the southern Philippine city of Marawi.
America deployed troops but only to help the Filipino military gather intelligence in its efforts to break the IS siege of the city that lasted five months. Their help, as well as that of another ally, Australia, helped the Filipino military pinpoint enemy positions.
Hapilon as well as other key krazed killer leaders were killed during the end of the five-month battle to flush out pro-IS fighters.
Hapilon, however, was replaced by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, an Abu Sayyaf commander who plotted kabooms in the southern island of Jolo that killed 23 — including two Indonesian jacket wallahs — in 2019, and 14 the following year. Sawadjaan is believed to have been killed in an assault sometime after the attacks, although this was never confirmed.
WestMinCom, in coordination with the local government units, meanwhile has been allowing the voluntary surrender of members of Daulah Islamiyah, Abu Sayyaf, and other local Islamic Death Eater groups to degrade their ranks. The military’s regional command has also been carrying on with armed offensives aimed at decimating the ranks and leadership of krazed killer groups across Mindanao Island and the Sulu Islands.
Daulah Islamiyah is the local name of IS.
According to WestMinCom officials privy to the closed-door talks between Fenton and Rosario, both men agreed to broaden efforts between U.S. and Philippine troops.
Under the bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), U.S. troops are limited restricted to only providing technical assistance and training to their Philippine colleagues but are not allowed to conduct or directly join any operations in the field. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2022-02-17 00:00||
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Posted by Skidmark 2022-02-17 14:30||
2022-02-17 14:30||
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