via Reuters.
Philippine emissaries met on Sunday with a leader of a militant group loyal to Islamic State, officials said, taking advantage of a short truce in a battle over a southern city occupied by rebels for more than a month.Story here.
The eight Muslim leaders entered the conflict zone in the heart of Marawi City alongside rescue teams. It was not immediately clear what was discussed with Abdullah Maute, one of two brothers in charge of the Islamist group named after them.
Retired General Dickson Hermoso, who coordinates efforts to free trapped civilians, said a unilateral eight-hour truce by the army to mark the Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday was extended to enable the talks, details of which he withheld to avoid jeopardizing chances for dialogue.
"We need to balance this because this is very precarious," Hermoso told reporters.
He said the Maute group released some women and children on Sunday and the emissaries had come under fire briefly from rebel snipers.
"We have only established a foothold with the Maute," he said. "We hope both sides will again grant us the respite."
Wow. You have solid intel on where the Terrorists leaders are and you don't take the opportunity to whack them with a little help from the US in a coordinated strike raining down precision guided bombs and cruise missiles?
I'm not so sure that targeted killing of terrorist leaders is a "war winning" strategy against these groups...it hasn't worked against ISIS and Al Qaeda in Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan but if I was a proponent of the thing then this would be an opportunity too good to pass up.
Prediction?
This thing will stretch out for another decade. The West still hasn't wrapped its brain around conducting successful Counterinsurgency Ops.
Why?
I'm not sure. The Counterinsurgency Manual was re-written with great fanfare by Amos and others but we've seen no improvement. Is this a failure of modern military culture? I really wonder.
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