Syria mission still worth the risk, top US army general says after rare visit
- General Mark Milley flew to Syria to assess efforts to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State and review safeguards for US forces against attacks
- ‘I think that an enduring defeat of ISIS and continuing to support our friends and allies in the region … I think those are important tasks that can be done,’ said Milley
The nearly eight-year-old US deployment to Syria to combat Islamic State is still worth the risk, the top US military officer said on Saturday, after a rare, unannounced visit to a dusty base in the country’s northeast to meet US troops.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew to Syria to assess efforts to prevent a resurgence of the militant group and review safeguards for American forces against attacks, including from drones flown by Iran-backed militia.
While Islamic State is a shadow of the group that ruled over a third of Syria and Iraq in a Caliphate declared in 2014, hundreds of fighters are still camped in desolate areas where neither the US-led coalition nor the Syrian army, with support from Russia and Iranian-backed militias, exert full control.
Thousands of other Islamic State fighters are in detention facilities guarded by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s key ally in the country.
American officials say that Islamic State could still regenerate into a major threat.
But the mission, which former US president Donald Trump nearly ended in 2018 before softening his withdrawal plans, is remnant of the larger global war against terrorism that had included once the war in Afghanistan and a far larger US military deployment to Iraq.
Asked by reporters travelling with him if he believed the Syria deployment of roughly 900 US troops to Syria was worth the risk, Milley tied the mission to the security of the United States and its allies, saying: “If you think that that’s important, then the answer is ‘Yes.’”
“I happen to think that’s important,” Milley said.