Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley addresses U.S. Army Reserve senior leaders at the Iron Mike Conference, April 25, 2016, Fort Bragg, N.C. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army)
United States Army General Mark Milley made an unannounced visit to an undisclosed base in northeastern Syria on March 4 to assess the mission against ISIS and to review safeguards for American troops against attacks.
During the visit, Milley, who serves as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with the commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Army Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane.
Asked by reporters traveling with him if he believed the deployment of some 900 U.S. troops in Syria was worth the risk, Milley tied the mission to the security of the United States and its allies, saying: “If you think that that’s important, then the answer is ‘Yes.’”
“I happen to think that’s important,” the general said. “So I think that an enduring defeat of ISIS and continuing to support our friends and allies in the region … I think those are important tasks that can be done.”
Milley’s visit signals that the Biden administration is planning to keep U.S. troops in the war-torn country in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for the long-term.
The U.S. military presence in Syria is not limited to the northeastern region. The coalition also maintains a garrison in the southeastern area of al-Tanf. The garrison blocks a strategic highway between Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the “illegitimate visit” by Milley, accusing the U.S. of turning a blind eye to ISIS crimes, stealing grains and oil from the northeastern region and backing SDF “separates”.
“Syria strongly condemns this flagrant violation by the U.S. military official of the sovereignty and inviolability of its lands and territorial integrity, and calls on the American administration to immediately stop its systematic and continuous violations of international law, and to stop its support for separatist armed militias,” an unnamed official from the ministry said in a statement to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
Milley’s visit came just a few weeks after four U.S. service members and a working dog were wounded during a counter-ISIS helicopter raid in the governorate of Deir Ezzor. It also came following a rocket attack that targeted the coalition’s Green Village base, which is located within al-Omar oil fields in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside. The attack was unofficially blamed on Iranian-backed forces.
Damascus and its allies are growing frustrated with the U.S. illegitimate military presence in the country. However, a military confrontation remains unlikely.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
I wish the working dog a full recovery.
The Americans will have to pull out at some point, they are losing traction globally now, many states are turning against them and the truth is finally dawning on many that NATO and the UN are purely entities that are evil and they are protests against everywhere. Millions of people are out on the streets screaming at them and this will have a debilitating effect on their capabilities to boss others around. As Buddha said, 3 things that cannot be hidden, DAY, NIGHT and THE TRUTH!
Only time those criminals pull out is when they are thrown out.
You are right. Anyone can see You are bad liar or make eveil guessing created blowe Your belt or RT TV.
The US had no business sticking their nose into this conflict and the conflict would be over by now had they had minded their own business.
I’m Mexican American and that man in uniform fights for the military industrial complex of America he answers not to the people but to his political masters in Washington. Those troops illegally in Syria ought to be ashamed.
Go back to Mexico.
White people don’t want you in America.
Who are you the local KKK Grand Wizard? screw you,
Most of the people which diagree with You are very normal ones and no member of KKK.
It always amuses me when I hear America is the least racist nation in the world.
You are right. They need less trenchdigging in that too.
What is not amusing is that you have made a good point about the Syrian conflict and you are then attacked personally without your critics actually trying to argue against what you have said. That’s true organised deflection technique to force the discussion to go off on to a tangent where the original point of argument then becomes secondary. They must be stooges but its interesting to see how successful they are by reading this thread to see how we all go off point.
Double standards :
“Israel first 1 hour ago A mission against ISIS! That’s a good lie.
It’s either a mission to support ISIS, or part of Operation Steal Syria’s Oil.
He’s going there because crimes cannot be done over the phone, so to plot a crime, you have to do it in person.”
“Israel first Reply to 🇲🇽Z🇷🇺 1 hour ago Go back to Mexico.
White people don’t want you in America.”
If Mexican Americans and latinos are treated as non whites in USA demographics as you say, then the ethnicity of the USA moves from being 75 percent white to 50 odd percent white so be careful what you wish for in your prejudice.
He fights WITH.
Of course he answers to the politicians in Washington. They hired him to do so.What else do You expect or hope for :)
USA is not Russia.
You make no sense.
Correction. He “fight”$ for a currency that completely lost it’$ efficacy and has been on life $upport courtesy of it’$ wholesale slaughter of Syria… Libya… Yemen… Iraq… Afghainstan… and Ukraine… after “3 buildings 2 planes” became the convenient pretext in which to loot all of those places for their resources and to be sold only in $USD.
Having said all that… “Whither” the Russian Federation that could have broken free from the UN Ca$in0 after 9/11 and started a new charter to instill sovereignty by not only declaring themselves the host of a new UN where all it’s members would obey the rules, but also their commodities markets that would permit price discovery unlike the one they still “obey” in Manhattan?!… I guess after the PRC and India did THIS https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-01-27-0201270268-story.html Russia decided that they would “play along” to “get along”, even though the CIA/Mossad/MI6 Maidan inspired coup of 2014 was the calling card for them to “call it a day” to bring those Russian citizens home that still wanted to be more “Russian” than their “second homes”!…
I’m a fucking Mexican faggot on welfare in America. I hate America because life here is much better than in a shithole Mexico. But I want more free money because I spend all money on getting fucked by nigger sij tje ass. I demand more money because nothing in my life is my fault. Fuck Russia too.
A mission against ISIS! That’s a good lie.
It’s either a mission to support ISIS, or part of Operation Steal Syria’s Oil.
He’s going there because crimes cannot be done over the phone, so to plot a crime, you have to do it in person.
Mr Kalibr should have had a day out.
You have only seen USA from a balcony in Vladivostok.
There is no Syrian foreign minister for most of Syria at all. He is only a leading person from the Russian vassals.
This is no rocket science. The US is in Syria on the orders of Israel. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. If US politicians and the US military were serious about combating ISIS and terrorism they wouldn’t have left Afghanistan. Now the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS have a sanctuary in Afghanistan just like before 9/11. I bet Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other Islamic terrorists groups are actively plotting how to attack us again.
Get out of Syria you oil stealing scum
Syrians and Russians should have burned that oil so the US filth can’t steal it and burn those bastards with it.its unbelievable that some people on here actually think its ok to enter another Country by force and loot it,they are still in the 19th century.
“So I think that an enduring defeat of ISIS and continuing to support our friends and allies in the region” Using logic friends can only be one – Israel.
Bože môj, kedy už konečne vybijú tie svine z USA zo Sýrie? Čo robí BR OSN? prečo nie sú uvalené sankcie na USA za to že nezákonne okupuje Sýriu apritom ju aj okráda o nerastné bohatsvtvo? To tým debilom z OSN nikomu nevadí? To iba proti RF majú všetci krvavé oči? Bastardi jedny vydrbaní!!!
Next stops… Yemen, Libya, Somalia, … he is going to be busy for quite a while.
The American Emirates.