Report: Pentagon considering plan to conduct airstrikes against ISIS in the Philippines


The Pentagon is mulling over a plan to give the military authority to launch airstrikes against Islamic State targets in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News Monday.
If the plan is approved, armed drones would carry out the strikes, which would hit targets considered threats to U.S. allies in the region, the officials said. The authority could be granted as early as Tuesday. The U.S. has a small military presence in the Philippines, supporting the country's forces that are fighting ISIS in the southern islands. "We are providing them some training and some guidance in terms of how to deal with an enemy that fights in ways that are not like most people have ever had to deal with," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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