Google joins fight against ISIS, helping with airstrikes

ISIS' coordanites are locked into Google maps for the military.

In the fight against ISIS, technology is playing a bigger part in determining the consequent actions of the troops against them. It turns out the U.S. military is coordinating with the Syrian Kurdish fighters, who use tablets connecting to Google. Although they did not confirm the airstrike coordinates, the Pentagon did say the military is working with the organization and other groups.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi mapped out how the Kurdish militia Y.P.G. is helping out the U.S. military in coordinating an attack against the extremist Islamic fighters. The organization proved to be one of the most effective allies in Syria, using walkie-talkies, Samsung tablets and Google Earth, according to the correspondent who covered combat zones.

She explained that the yellow spots marked on the map indicate the location of the Syrian Kurds, while those in red are the coordinates of a building taken over by the ISIS.

Times reported that whenever a Y.P.G. fighter spotted ISIS jihadists, they pass on the message to a central YPG command through the walkie-talkie. Then, the central station maps the coordinates on the tablet and sends it out to an American handler inside the military.

The U.S. military will then send back the coordinates indicating where the Y.P.G. should take cover and once confirmed they are safe, the U.S. military launches the strike. The strategy evolved from exchanges made in Google Earth, so the Y.P.G. can receive supplies from the military. Together, they successfully pushed ISIS away from certain locations.

Although the strategy is working against terrorism, the exchanges worry the Turkish government, who is also trying to combat the Kurdish militants. Just Monday, the P.K.K. was blamed for a bomb attack in a police station.

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