Some enduring military force will be needed in Syria to reach a peace and guard against the resurgence of the Islamic State, Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, said on Thursday.
The role could be filled by allies but the United States also has unique military capabilities to fill the job of stabilizing the war-torn country, Neller told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Someone has got to be there,” he said during questioning by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about the threat from the terrorist group.
President Trump has signaled he wants U.S. forces to leave Syria following the defeat of the ISIS, though the four-year-old military campaign remains stalled at the finish line as allied Syrian fighters on the ground were pulled into a skirmish with ally Turkey.
The Pentagon is now estimating about 90 percent of the ISIS’ territory has been liberated, a decrease from an early estimate of 98 percent, and confirmed the group is resurgent in some areas.
The U.S. has about 2,000 troops in Syria now and the Trump administration has reported been approaching Arab allies including Saudi Arabia about them deploying forces to stabilize Syria.
Neller told Graham that a “holding force” will be needed in the future.
“In order to get to some sort of a political settlement at Geneva or elsewhere, we have to have stability and if the decision were made that our partners were to come in there — we cannot create a vacuum because it will be filled by someone we don’t want, and so I think that would be part of the negotiation as to who would be in there,” Neller said. “But I would agree with you, there has to be stability.”
Graham said the group should be confronted in other parts of the world so it does not attack inside the U.S. and an American military force should remain long-term.
“As to that someone, would you agree that we have capabilities no army in the region has and we add some value that probably can’t be replaced by somebody else?” Graham asked the commandant.
Neller said “I would agree with that.”
