Once the United States pulls all its ground forces out of Syria, it will be up to the other members of the 79-nation Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to make sure the terrorist group doesn’t retake territory in the country, the top U.S. commander for the region told Congress Tuesday.
Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that he expects that by the time U.S. troops withdraw from Syria, in what he called “a deliberate and coordinated manner,” all the remaining 20 square miles of Syria still controlled by an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 ISIS fighters will have been liberated.
But Votel warned that even when the territory is reclaimed, the fight against ISIS will not be over.
“The coalition’s hard-won battlefield gains can only be secured by maintaining a vigilant offensive against them,” Votel said, describing ISIS as a “dispersed and desegregated” organization “that retains leaders, fighters, facilitators, resources, and the profane ideology that fuels their efforts.”
Votel’s warning came one day after the latest quarterly report to Congress from the Department of Defense’s internal watchdog declared ISIS “remains a battled-hardened and well-disciplined force” that seems “unfazed by Coalition airstrikes” and is “regenerating key functions and capabilities.”
The report from the DOD’s lead inspector general said the Pentagon believes that “absent sustained [counterterrorism] pressure, ISIS could likely resurge in Syria within six to twelve months and regain territory in the middle Euphrates River valley.”
The original plan was for the 2,200 U.S. troops now assisting Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters to stay to train up to 30,000 local security forces to keep ISIS from reconstituting, but President Trump’s December order to begin withdrawing all American ground troops upended that project.
Instead, the United States is now pressuring coalition allies to step up and perform that stabilization mission.
Votel said that as the United States prepares to leave once the “physical caliphate” is defeated, it is also consulting with allies and partners to implement stabilization efforts and to protect the Kurdish allies who have fought on behalf of the United States against ISIS in Syria.
“These details are being developed now and will ensure campaign continuity and capitalize on the contributions of the international community to prevent a resurgence of ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” Votel said.
Votel notably did not confirm Trump’s statement that U.S. forces would continue to attack ISIS from a base in Iraq, where Iran’s actions in the region would also be monitored.
The commander said the United States is “exploring all options” to maintain military pressure on ISIS without a ground presence but that he would only discuss the options in a closed session.
