U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have killed 8,500 Islamic State fighters since operations began seven months ago, the commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.
The Islamic State in both nations is degraded,Austin testified before the House Armed Services Committee.
“He can no longer do what he did at the outset,” Austin said, using the pronoun “he” to identify the terrorist organization. “He has assumed a defensive crouch in Iraq.”
Austin warned the committee against further expanding operations against the Islamic State in Syria beyond the commitment the U.S. has made to train moderate Syrian rebels, until Iraq is stabilized.
“How we go about this is very important,” Austin said. If the U.S. and coalition partners do not focus on consolidating gains in Iraq, where there are “some reliable security forces,” and instead try to handle both Iraq and Syria at once, it would “risk making matters worse in both countries.” He said.
Austin said because the Islamic State is losing in both Iraq and Syria, it is trying to expand into North Africa, and will continue to deliver “limited attacks and orchestrate horrific scenes” to wage an information war and use the violence to generate additional recruits.
Austin was escorted to a waiting room and took no questions from members before the committee adjourned to go to the Capitol to hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak.
