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Defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant globally
and at home requires leveraging the militant organization in its
“parent tumor” of Syria and Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told
the Senate Armed Services Committee December 9, 2015.
The
secretary, joined by Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Air Force
Gen. Paul J. Selva, said defeating ISIL requires using all
components of the nation's might -- diplomatic, military, law
enforcement, homeland security, intelligence, economic and
informational operations.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, and Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2015. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee)
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That's the right approach, he said, for three reasons: It
takes the fight to the enemy; it seeks to develop capable,
motivated, local ground forces to can assure a lasting
victory, and it sets conditions for a political solution to
the civil war in Syria and inclusive governance in Iraq.
The U.S.-led military campaign “must and will deny ISIL
any safe territorial haven, kill or capture its leadership
and forces, and destroy its organization” while enabling
motivated, local ground forces to defeat ISIL and ensure
victory remains, he said.
The secretary said new
military steps are taken every week to build momentum on the
battlefield, such as applying multiple pressures on multiple
fronts simultaneously to accelerate enemy defeat.
Recent Operations in Syria
In a brief overview of recent operations, Carter said
local forces in Syria, with coalition help, are battling
ISIL in the last remaining pocket of access into Turkey.
Syrian Arabs the U.S. military helped to equip in
northeastern Syria are fighting alongside Kurdish forces and
have recaptured important terrain, such as Hawl and about
900 square kilometers of surrounding territory, he noted,
adding that forces are moving south to isolate ISIL's
claimed capital of Raqqa, with the objective to collapse its
control over the city. And U.S. Special Forces recently
ordered to Iraq and Syria by President Barack Obama create
“force multipliers” based on their capabilities in
intelligence gathering, targeting and enabling local forces,
he added.
Recent Operations
in Syria
With U.S. air power, local forces
have retaken Sinjar in Iraq, cutting
the main line of ISIL communication between Raqqa and Mosul,
Carter said. “To move people and supplies,” he added, “ISIL
must now rely on backroads, where we will locate and destroy
them.”
Some 3,500 troops in six locations support the
Iraqi security forces with increased lethal fire and are
augmenting the training, advising and assisting program,
Carter told the senators. As Iraqi troops show capability
and motivation, “we're prepared to do more,” he added.
While the secretary acknowledged that retaking Ramadi
from ISIL control has been frustrating, efforts to recapture
the city are evident as well-equipped Iraqi troops enter the
city from multiple directions.
“In the last 24 hours,
[the Iraqi forces] re-took the Anbar operations center on
the northern bank of the Euphrates River across from
Ramadi's city center,” he said. “This is an important step,
but there's still tough fighting ahead.”
The U.S.
military is ready to help the Iraqis retake Ramadi with
greater capabilities if circumstances dictate and if
requested by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, the
secretary said.
Adapting
with Successes
Recent operations show “how
we've adapted,” Carter said. “We will do more of what works
going forward,” he added.
While
overall progress in Iraq's Sunni-populated areas has been
slow, the secretary acknowledged, “we are urging the Iraqi
government to do more to recruit, train, arm, mobilize and
pay Sunni fighters in their communities.”
The
specialized expeditionary targeting force recently assigned
to assist the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish
peshmerga forces will pressure ISIL with more raids and more
intelligence gathering, he said, noting that the force also
can conduct unilateral operations in Syria.
Intelligence and understanding ISIL operations have allowed
the U.S.-led coalition's air campaign to destroy ISIL's oil
infrastructure, its financial source, Carter told the
committee. And as anti-ISIL airstrikes kill more key ISIL
leaders, he said, the strikes “serve notice to ISIL that no
target is beyond our reach.”
More Effort Needed
While the adaptions made in six weeks show U.S. acceleration
in the anti-ISIL campaign, Carter said, other nations must
step up in the fight before another Paris-type attack
occurs.
In the past week, he said, he's
reached out to 40 countries in the coalition to ask for
contributions such as special operations forces, strike and
reconnaissance aircraft, weapons and munitions and training
assistance.
Commending the committee's budget deal
passed last month, the secretary asked members to release
the hold on the final tranche of $116 million in the Syria
equipping program.
“We need the funds to provide and
transport ammunition, weapons and other equipment to further
enable the progress being made against ISIL in Syria by
partners like the Syrian-Arab Coalition,” he said. “We
should not be impeding the very momentum we are trying to
build.”
By Terri Moon Cronk
DOD News / Defense Media Activity
Copyright 2015
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