Despite rocket attacks that have killed American soldiers, the U.S. mission in Iraq and Syria is narrowly focused on degrading the Islamic State and handing over responsibilities to Iraqi Security Forces, a coalition commander said.
“They are clearly not our focus,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman, deputy commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, said at a Wednesday press briefing from Baghdad. “We’re here to defeat [ISIS].”
Ekman characterized the ISIS threat as a global one, whereas the Iranian-backed militia groups were localized, though he later admitted they still posed a danger to coalition forces.
“Those absolutely pose a risk to coalition forces, you know, they have caused casualties to our coalition forces within calendar year 2020,” Ekman said, while repeating only that the ISF is protecting American forces from the militias.
“We turn to our government of Iraq hosts to help create the security conditions here that allow us to continue our mission,” he said. “We applaud their efforts and appreciate everything that they do to keep coalition forces residing on Iraqi bases safe as we conduct our mission.”
U.S. forces previously have targeted the Iraqi militias directly, including Kata’ib Hezbollah, firing rockets at weapons caches in March after two Americans were killed. The United States also struck militia targets in January and killed Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani after an American was killed at an Iraqi base in December and planning for more attacks was allegedly underway.
The 5,200 Iraq-based U.S. troops and a “limited footprint” in Syria are meant to root out the remnants of ISIS and continue supporting the ISF, Ekman said.
“Once you devolve to the point that you have a low-level insurgency hiding in the rural areas and places, in caves and in mountains in this region, you’ve largely succeeded,” he said, as U.S. and Iraqi negotiations continue about the future of U.S. and coalition forces in the country.
Ekman gave no status update on the State Department-led negotiations with the Iraqi government that began in June other than to signal that U.S. troops will draw down soon.
“Over time, what you will see is a slow reduction in U.S. forces here in Iraq in coordination with our Iraqi hosts,” he said.
ISF takes lead
Ekman stressed that ISIS holds no territory and that the ISF is increasingly rooting the group out of rural areas with the help of U.S. intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and limited airstrikes.
“They simply don’t need our help for the day-to-day business of securing a lot of the country,” Ekman said.
U.S. forces returned to Iraq in 2014 when ISIS held large swaths of territory and threatened stability in the region.
In the increasing advisory role, the U.S. and coalition forces have trained some 250,000 Iraqi soldiers and continue to hand over bases. Later this week, he said a Spanish-led base in Besmayah will be handed over to Iraqis as that country’s mission concludes.
Ekman said it will now be up to the 77 nations in the coalition to root out the ISIS ideology radicalizing individuals in their countries.
While repeating that the ISF is a force increasingly capable of independently operating, Ekman also said that “the Iraqis still need our help in planning, our intelligence and surveillance capabilities and our coalition air power.”
He described an ISF-led operation in northeast Iraq called “Heroes of Iraq IV” that targeted remaining ISIS sanctuaries, capturing combatants and material.
The operation was executed with the help of a new military advisory group that was stood up July 2.
Ekman also said ISIS’s continued presence in Syria is what keeps Americans there and caused the death of a service member Tuesday while on routine patrol.
The deputy commander said the death was unrelated to reports of interactions with Russian forces operating in the same air and land space as American forces in eastern Syria.
“We interact with the Russians out in the Syrian battle space almost every day,” he said of robust de-confliction efforts with Russia in Syria. “It’s very rare that a misunderstanding triggers some higher emotions or some sort of harassment between the two sets of forces.”
