[Wash Times] Military advisers close to Defense Secretary James N. Mattis are considering loosening the restrictions on U.S. airstrikes that the Obama administration kept in place in war against the Islamic State in Iraq, according to current and former U.S. officials.A key tenet of the proposed revised rules of engagement would raise the "acceptable" number of estimated collateral civilian casualties to authorize a U.S. or allied airstrike, sources say. Loosening these restrictions would give American commanders a freer hand in ordering strikes against the Islamic State’s northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, which the Trump White House has strongly advocated.
One source, who recently left a high-level position in the department, said Mr. Mattis’ team is believed to be carefully weighing the matter, with the expectation that the Trump White House would support such a move.
Another Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Times that the department has not formulated any specific plan, but could not rule out that such a high-level policy change was being considered.
"I can tell you that isn’t something that we are working on right now, but that’s not to say something like that won’t happen," the official said.