U.S. Will Withdraw From Syria When Local Forces Can Keep ISIS in Check

DEC. 11, 2019 | BY C. TODD LOPEZ

U.S. forces in Syria will leave when local forces are capable of keeping ISIS in check on their own, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.

“In short, the mission remains the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Esper told the House Armed Services Committee today during a hearing on U.S. policy in Syria and the broader region. U.S. forces in Syria are working in partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces, he noted.

“The SDF has been a great partner in the sense of providing very capable ground forces,” Esper told the panel. “What we provide for them are the enablers — principally, the air support and intelligence, things like that — that help us defeat ISIS as we see ISIS pops up.”

U.S. forces are fighting ISIS from Africa into Afghanistan, Esper said. “The metric we have set out for this in terms of when we could consider redeploying … would be when we feel confident that local security and police forces are capable of handling any type of resurgence … of ISIS,” he added.

Esper told lawmakers the United States already has had success in defeating ISIS, including the destruction of the physical caliphate, the liberation of 7.7 million people who had been living under the caliphate’s rule, and a series of successful operations that resulted in the deaths of ISIS’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and a top deputy.

“The Department of Defense remains committed to working with our partners to ensure ISIS is unable to mount a resurgence,” the secretary said.

Esper also told the House panel that while the National Defense Strategy prioritizes nations such as Russia and China as top security challenges for the United States, vigilance in countering threats posed by Iran and violent extremist organizations remain a priority.

“The United States strategy in the Middle East seeks to ensure the region is not a safe haven for terrorists, is not dominated by any power hostile to the U.S., and contributes to a stable global energy market,” Esper said.

The secretary laid out six objectives for the U.S. military in the Middle East:1Using dynamic U.S. military presence with strategic depth to deter and, if necessary, respond to aggression;2Strengthening the defensive capabilities of regional partners;3Advancing partnerships and burden-sharing with allies and partners to address shared security concerns;4Protecting freedom of navigation;5Denying safe haven to terrorists that threaten the homeland; and6Mitigating threats posed by weapons of mass destruction.

“As the DOD continues to implement the [National Security Strategy], the stability of the Middle East remains important to our nation’s security,” Esper said. “As such, we will continue to calibrate all of our actions to deter conflict, to avoid unintended escalation, and to enable our partners to defend themselves against regional aggressors. In doing so, we will preserve the hard-won gains of the past and ensure the security of the United States and our vital interests.”

Milley Details DOD Operations Throughout the Middle East

DEC. 11, 2019 | BY DAVID VERGUN

The Middle East remains a challenge to U.S. national security interests, as terrorist groups thrive on the region’s instability as they try to export violent extremism around the world, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

”We are not finished with that fight,” Army Gen. Mark A. Milley told the House Armed Services Committee today.

Milley appeared with Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper at a hearing on U.S. policy in Syria and the broader region.

Iran also exploits the volatility and asserts itself through malign influence to achieve regional dominance, he added.

The Defense Department adheres to clear goals in the region that are set forth in the National Security Strategy, Milley said:

• A stable and secure Middle East;
• A Middle East that is not a safe haven and breeding ground for violent extremists;
• A Middle East that is not dominated by a nation hostile to the United States; and
• A Middle East that contributes to a stable, global energy market.

The National Defense Strategy provides military objectives to deter destabilizing activities by Iran and violent extremist organizations, the general said. In turn, he told the panel, the National Military Strategy describes how the joint force achieves NDS objectives with five areas of focus:

• Responding to threats;
• Deterring strategic attack, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
• Deterring conventional attack;
• Assuring allies and partners; and
• Competing below the level of armed conflict.
• Milley gave the committee an overview of DOD’s current operations in the Middle East.

In Syria, he said, combined operations with the Syrian Democratic Forces continue toward completing the enduring defeat of ISIS and preventing its reemergence, he said.

Iraq has been an essential partner in defeating ISIS in the region, the chairman said, and the department continues to work by, with and through Iraqi security forces to achieve a secure and stable Iraq that is able to defend itself.

The military strategy in Afghanistan is to continue to deny the nation as a safe haven for terrorist attacks on the U.S. homeland, Milley said. ”That has been our objective since Oct. 7, 2001,” he added.

The Defense Department also supports the effort to reach a political settlement between the Taliban and the Afghan government in ”an Afghan-to-Afghan effort that ends this war in a responsible way and meets U.S. national security objectives,” Milley said.

Iran remains the leading state sponsor of terrorism, the general said, and has increased instability in the region through state and proxy actions. In response, he told the House panel, DOD increased its force posture in the response to Iran’s recent attacks on Saudi Arabia and its continued acts of aggression and malign influence throughout the region.

”We will maintain the strategic depth of the joint force in the region in order to deter Iran, assure our partners, and if necessary, respond if deterrence fails,” he said.

In broad terms, Milley said, the military strategy in the Middle East is part of an interagency, international effort to sustain the conditions-based approach.