The U.S. military continued to pound the Islamic State in Syria over the past week as President Trump said the group is almost defeated and he will withdraw troops “very soon.”
A total of nine airstrikes were carried out by U.S. forces on ISIS fighters and vehicles in Syria as well as the group’s buildings, hideouts, supply routes, and fighters in Iraq, U.S. Central Command reported Friday in a weekly roundup of the strikes.
“Ongoing operations by Iraqi Security Forces and Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by [the U.S.-led coalition force] efforts, demonstrate that much work remains to defeat Daesh here,” the command said, using another term for ISIS.
The latest assessment comes after Trump appeared to break with Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of Central Command, and said, “I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home” from Syria during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
“Think of it, $7 trillion over a 17-year period. We have nothing. Nothing except death and destruction. It’s a horrible thing. So it is time. It is time,” Trump said. “We were very successful against ISIS. We’ll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it is time to come back home.”
On the same day as the president’s comments, Votel cautioned that “the hardest part is in front of us” in Syria, referring to the rebuilding and stability operations that could come after a military defeat of the group.
No timeline for U.S. operations in Syria has been given publicly after the president met with other top security advisers this week, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Trump privately gave military leaders until the fall to wrap up the operations against ISIS and pull troops from the country.
The White House released a statement after his comments saying the U.S. remains committed to eliminating what remains of the group in Syria.
The military mission to “eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.
