Biden administration tightens limits on airstrikes excluding Syria
Story summary
US military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone operators must obtain advance permission from President Biden to target a suspected militant outside a conventional war zone, excluding Syria and Iraq, the New York Times reported.
They must have “near certainty” at the moment of any strike that civilians will not be injured, according to the New York Times.
The rules tightened constraints on drone strikes and commando raids that President Donald Trump had loosened in 2017.
The Biden administration partly declassified and disclosed the document, along with an 18-page national security memo laying out its international counterterrorism strategy, after The New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government currently considers only Iraq and Syria, where operations against Islamic State (ISIS) continue.
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