Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan said he is pleased with the progress of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and he reiterated America's steadfast support for the effort.
Shanahan spoke following a meeting of coalition defense ministers in Munich this morning.
“As a 79-member team, our coalition has taken a strong and united stand against the ISIS threat globally with a particular emphasis on Iraq and Syria,” he said. “The United States appreciates every coalition member's unique contribution to the collective D-ISIS efforts. Together, we have eliminated the group's hold on over 99 percent of the territory it once claimed as its so-called caliphate.”
It has not been an easy fight. Iraqi troops took Mosul back from ISIS in particularly bitter fighting. Syrian Democratic Forces wrested the ISIS capital of Raqqa back after months of fighting. The final remnants of the terror group are now under tremendous assault in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.
“We have destroyed its ability to mass forces,” Shanahan said. “We have eliminated most of its leadership and significantly diminished its resources.”
U.S. Committed to Fight
U.S. service members in northeast Syria are heading home. Still, “The United States remains committed to our coalition's cause: The permanent defeat of ISIS both in the Middle East and beyond,” the acting secretary said….
