US Central Command Says Anti-ISIS Operations to Pick Up
xUS Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie
said on Saturday there are 500 US personnel in east Syria, adding he expected
anti-ISIS operations to pick up in coming days and weeks.
McKenzie was speaking on the sidelines of the Manama
Dialogue Conference in Bahrain.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark
Milley, said earlier this month that about 500 or 600 US troops will remain in
Syria to counter ISIS militants.
President Donald Trump has approved an expanded
military mission to secure oil fields across eastern Syria. His decision locked
hundreds of US troops into a more complicated presence in Syria despite his
pledge to bring them home.
"Now I've got about 500 US personnel generally
east of the Euphrates river east of Deir Ezzor up to Hasaka, northeast all the
way up into extreme northeast Syria," McKenzie told reporters on Saturday.
"It is our intention to remain in that position
working with our SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) partners to continue operations
against ISIS down the Euphrates river valley where those targets present
themselves," he said.
