President Obama said the US is pursuing a “longterm strategy” against the Islamic State, and yesterday invoked the War Powers Act to justify authorizing airstrikes against Islamic State militants threatening Iraq’s Mosul Dam; the Pentagon has conducted 40 airstrikes since Aug. 16 to support operations of Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga to retake the complex. The State Department designated Said Arif a.k.a. Omar Gharib, an Al Nusrah Front leader, and Abu Muhammed al Adnani, an Islamic State leader and spokesman, as global terrorists. The USS Cape Ray finished neutralizing all 600 metric tons of Syria’s most lethal chemical weapons components. The FAA prohibited US airlines from flying over Syria, and warned that extremist groups in Syria with anti-aircraft weapons are opposed to the provision of civil air service to Syria. The Islamic State posted a brief video on social media threatening Americans that it will “drown all of you in blood” if US airstrikes hit IS fighters.
