(New York Times) Michael R. Gordon - The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State, which could include American artillery on the ground in Syria and Army attack helicopters to support an assault on the group's capital, Raqqa, officials said. President Trump will demand that the new options be presented to him within 30 days, the officials said. The directive to identify new ways to hasten the demise of the Islamic State has been widely anticipated by military commanders, who have begun drafting classified options to increase the pressure. The White House is also expected to press for a review of how to achieve the president's goal of fielding a "state of the art" antimissile system.
2017-01-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive