US ‘just weeks away’ from getting rest of territory held by IS in Syrian region
But Pentagon reports suggest tens of thousands of IS fighters and supporters have gone to ground in Syria and Iraq, and may be regrouping
The US military is just weeks away from liberating 100% of the remaining territory held by Islamic State (IS) in Syria’s Middle Euphrates River Valley, acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday. The development would further fuel debate about US President Donald Trump’s planned troop withdrawal and the future of the US’s Kurdish allies. US goals in Syria have been seen as going beyond just defeating IS’s territorial footprint to include pushing back on Iranian and Iranian-backed forces engaged in Syria’s eight-year-long civil war. Trump has vowed to strike at IS forces as he pulls US troops from the conflict, but he has faced pressure from allies including Israel to remain engaged. On a recent trip to Israel and Turkey, National Security Adviser John Bolton indicated that there would be no rush to remove troops from a US base in southern Syria known as Al-Tanf. While Trump has focused on wiping out IS’s so-called caliphate, Pentagon reports from late 2018 suggest ten...
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