Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Saturday that the almost eight-year US deployment to Syria to combat the Islamic State group is still worth the risk that it entails. The statement was made after a rare, unannounced visit to a base in the northeast of the country to meet with US troops. Gen. Milley’s visit aimed to assess efforts to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic extremist group and to review safeguards for American forces against attacks, including those from drones flown by Iran-backed militia.
Although ISIS is not as powerful as it was when it ruled over a third of Syria and Iraq in a caliphate declared in 2014, hundreds of fighters are still camped in 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 ISIS fighters are in detention facilities guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s key ally in the country.
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Four US troops were wounded during a helicopter raid last month when an ISIS leader triggered an explosion. Also last month, the US military also shot down an Iranian-made drone in Syria that was attempting to conduct reconnaissance on a patrol base in northeastern Syria. Three drones targeted a US base in January in Syria’s Al-Tanf region. US officials believe drone and rocket attacks are being directed by Iran-backed militia.
US Army Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, who commands the US-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, stated that the attacks against US forces are a “distraction from our main mission.”