US special envoy for Syria Jim Jeffrey said that the takeover of the
last ISIS-held town was an “important development,” but that the war
would continue beyond this indefinitely, with an eye toward an eventual “enduring defeat.”
Jeffrey’s comments centered on the idea that post-territory ISIS would
be a “different kind of fight,” and downplayed the idea of any question
what to do with the thousands of ISIS prisoners already held.
Effectively, the message was that the war is going to continue, and US
forces will remain in Syria in some undisclosed number. It was meant to
deflect Trump’s previous withdrawal announcement and victory
declaration.
It has always been expected that ISIS would return to an insurgency
operation after losing the last of its territory, but it wasn’t clear
that the US would be involved. The Pentagon had always envisioned being
in Syria effectively forever, but that decision has been hotly debated
within the cabinet.
Translation: The ridiculously long fight for Baghouz gave IS the chance to relocate resources elsewhere for terrorist ops over standup fighting.
What a waste of lives and treasure, Brockland; the US and its allies were NEVER invited into Syria in the first place .. only Russia, Iran (as advisers) and Hezbollah were invited. Russian airstrikes in ISIS held territory has destroyed many ISIS fighters and sent survivors fleeing in terror.
It was under the presidency of Barack Obama that the US supplied ISIS and other Jihadists with both arms and funding, and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad called on Russia to help destroy these Jihadists. Iran and Hezbollah were called in later to help Russia eliminate them.
The US/UK/French forces entered Syria illegally, as did Turkey, and the Turks went after Syrian Kurds, who sided with the Assad Govt and joined its forces. BTW, the US abandoned those Kurds, and that’s why they sided with Assad.
Oh, the Kurds aren’t totally abandoned. The story of ‘abandonment’ is promoted as a reason for the U.S. to remain in Syria.
The Kurds would be better off if they weren’t used as NATO cannon fodder, but they are stuck on Rojava.