OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Airstrikes kill ISIS leaders

by Martin Matishak and Kristina Wong - 12/18/14 6:53 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: U.S. and coalition air strikes have killed multiple senior and mid-level Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leaders since mid-November, the Pentagon said Thursday.

A U.S. official confirmed the deaths of at least two senior leaders and a mid-level leader that was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

{mosads}Between Dec. 3-9, U.S. airstrikes killed Abd al Basit, the “military emir” of ISIS, and Haji Mutazz, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s right hand man, the official confirmed.

“We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades [ISIS’s] ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement Thursday.

In late November, another strike killed a mid-level commander, Radwin Talib, ISIS’s governor in Mosul, the official confirmed.

“It is disruptive to their planning and command and control,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Journal in an interview Thursday. “These are high-value targets, senior leadership.”

The deaths reflected some progress in the four-month long fight. The top U.S. commander in Iraq told reporters Thursday that the coalition was seeing “initial successes” in the fight.

“My assessment is that Daesh has been halted [and is in] transition to the defense, and is attempting to hold what they currently have,” Army Lt. Gen. James Terry said at a Pentagon briefing, using a derogatory Arabic name for the terror group.

The U.S. has deployed 1,600 troops to Iraq, and the U.S.-led coalition has conducted 1,361 airstrikes against ISIS, Terry said.

The general added that ISIS was unable to launch broad offensives, which hurts the group’s propaganda and outreach. He also said ISIS was having a harder time commanding and communicating with their forces in battle and resupplying fighters.

“We will continue to be persistent in this regard and we will strike Daesh at every possible opportunity,” he said.

ARMY REVERSES BENEFITS POLICY: Army Secretary John McHugh is allowing approximately 120 officers chosen for forced retirement from the Army to leave with full benefits.

The move, announced on Thursday, reverses a policy that would have forced those officers to retire at their highest enlisted rank if they spent fewer than eight years as an officer — essentially a demotion in rank and retirement pay.

A bipartisan group of 15 lawmakers led by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) had pressured McHugh to make the change, writing to the Army chief in November.

They said the policy is unfair to those who have been selected for retirement under budget cuts but are just short of the eight years.

“We appreciate that this oversight was brought to our attention, and glad we were able to take corrective action in the best interests of these soldiers,” McHugh said on Thursday.

“I am thrilled Secretary McHugh responded quickly and is taking the steps necessary to rectify this situation and allow these deserving men and women to retire at the rank they have earned and appropriately honor their service to our nation,” Isakson said in a statement Thursday.

The Army also said 44 officers were improperly chosen for forced retirement and would be allowed to continue serving.

“[T]his is about doing what’s right, and taking care of our men and women in uniform,” McHugh added.

WHO HACKED SONY? The White House on Thursday refused to confirm reports that North Korea is behind a massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures that led the studio to cancel the release of “The Interview.”

Press Secretary John Earnest said the hack was performed by a “sophisticated actor” and is being treated as a “legitimate national security matter” by President Obama and top administration officials.

He also said members of the president’s national security team had met throughout the week to consider “a range of responses that we believe at this point is appropriate” but did not say what those entailed.

Pyongyang is the No. 1 suspect in the hack because the film is a comedy that depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“It’s fair to say that the investigation is progressing,” Earnest told reporters during a briefing. “This is something they’ve been looking into for quite some time, and I know that there is significant investigative resources that have been committed to this effort, and they’ve been making progress.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blamed the movie’s cancellation on the administration’s “failure” to address cyber threats.

“[M]ake no mistake. The need for Sony Pictures to make that decision ultimately arose from the Administration’s continuing failure to satisfactorily address the use of cyber weapons by our nation’s enemies,” McCain said in a statement.

McCain called the attack “only the latest in a long and troubling list of attempts by malign actors to use cyber to undermine our economic and national security interests.”

“This must change,” he warned.

McCain, who is expected to lead the Senate Armed Services Committee next year, said he would establish a new subcommittee to examine cybersecurity issues and hold the administration accountable.

NO CHANGE ON GITMO: A senior State Department official said she doesn’t expect the thaw in U.S-Cuba relations to impact the agreement the two nations have on the prison in Guantanamo Bay.

“I do not at the time,” Roberta Jacobson, U.S. assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, told reporters on Thursday.

The United States originally leased 45 square miles of land and water at Guantanamo Bay for use as a coaling station and later as a refueling station. The lease can only be terminated by mutual agreement.

Jacobson’s comments came one day after President Obama announced he would move toward normalizing relations between Washington and Havana. The shift includes easing travel and trade restrictions and opening an embassy in Cuba.

Obama has vowed to close the prison at Guantanamo for terror suspects, but has met vehement resistance from Congress, especially from Republicans.

Recent detainee transfers to third countries have reduced the total number being held to 136, the lowest count in years.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

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-Lawmakers seek Purple Heart for victims of Little Rock shooting
-Pentagon calls ISIS ‘Daesh’ for first time
-Putin asks: ‘Do they want our bear to become a stuffed animal?’
-Senior Dem chides Rubio, GOP on barbs

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@digital-staging.thehill.com.