US-Iraq campaign against ISG will strain ties

Significance

The day prior, President Barack Obama met with his military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon and offered an upbeat assessment to the media regarding progress to date, despite ISG advances in Iraq's Anbar and Syria's Palmyra.

Impacts

• The July 13 delivery of F-16 fighter jets will boost Iraqi Air Force capacity.
• It will not change the balance of power in the campaign, as coalition air power vastly outweighs the eventual 36 Iraqi F-16s.
• However, UK plans to deploy special operators to Iraq and Syria could signal greater Western comfort with increased combat engagement.