...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
to news hounds en-route to Egypt Saturday.
"The enemy is collapsing. In many cases, faster than many people in the media forecasted," Mattis declared. "You know, I always stayed away from timelines for this very reason. It’s usually slower or faster than any timeline."
Mattis has consistently been reluctant to put a timeline on the U.S. military presence in Syria, but highlighted the recent withdrawal of approximately 400 Marines from the country after successful operations against ISIS. The 400 Marines are being sent back to the U.S. after supporting the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in their military campaign against ISIS.
ISIS has lost nearly all of its major territory in Iraq and Syria in recent months. The group no longer controls any major city in Iraq and is largely isolated to a desert pocket in Syria, surrounded by various hostile militaries.
The defense secretary also confirmed that U.S. arms and support will begin to cease to Kurdish groups inside Syria which have largely born the brunt of the fight against ISIS. Many of these Kurdish groups were affiliate with the Syrian Democratic Forces much to the chagrin of U.S. ally
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
who regard some of the militias as terrorist groups.
The decision to stop arming the Kurds was revealed by President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
Nov 25 after a phone call with
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey..."President Trump also informed President Erdogan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria, now that the battle of Raqqa is complete and we are progressing into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return," the White House said in a statement after the call.